Undying Future
by UltimateMutantX
Summary: In another time, another place, another future, the mutant vampire Bloodstorm must struggle in what's left of a world with no heroes to salvage the remainder of the human race after a tragic event lead to the uprising of the vampire nations. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Undying Future  
  
Rating: Strong PG-13, maybe R. Violence in parts and some moderate language.  
  
Summary: This story is set in a world of an RPG I belong to where I play as Bloodstorm. Though the character is property of Marvel, all character developments for her are of my own devising. Basically in a possible future, the vampires rule the world, Bloodstorm and a small band of surviving humans and mutants must struggle to bring about a change to ensure the survival of the human race.  
  
Category: Alternate Universe/Action/Adventure/Angst.  
  
A/N: Please Read and Review - this is my first publicised work! Enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: The character of Bloodstorm is copyright of Marvel. Other characters used in this story are copyright (respectively) of Marvel and DC. BloodRayne is copyright of Majesco Games, Inc.  
  
A chill wind picked up, blowing smoke and ash through the air as Ororo Munroe quietly stalked her way along the abandoned streets. It was just after sundown and she was running late. She picked up her pace and crossed the street passing an overturned car from which her keen sense of smell could still detect the charred flesh of the long-dead occupant. She wrinkled her nose in disgust as she continued down the street. Turning a corner her eyes glanced across at the gutted front of an old convenience store. A couple of bodies lay hanging out of the window, their blood streaking the shattered glass and the garbage covered sidewalk.  
  
As the last rays of the sun dipped down behind the rooftops, Ororo ducked down a small alley where she sidled up to a grimy wooden door. She glanced around and back onto the street as a distant sound filled the air. It was primal and feral; a low-pitched sound of hundreds - thousands - of hungry predators waking to the world they now owned. Turning back to the door she banged on the wooden panels. Her ears picked up the turning of multiple locks within the frame as the door shuddered open only a mere fraction. Her lithe body slipped inside as her eyes adjusted to the gloom. The door was slammed hard behind her as she walked down a small hallway which opened into a large room with no windows.  
  
A handful of dim lamps illuminated the corners of the vast room as she approached a large table in the centre. Movement to her left caused her to pause as a figure stepped out from the shadows.  
  
"Did you get it?"  
  
Ororo took something out from under her jacket. It was a roll of torn and dusty paper. She set it down on the table and turned to the figure who stepped closer to inspect the item. She was a woman in her mid-thirties with short brown hair. Her eyes were deep and betrayed much of the horrors she had seen. She wore tight leather trousers and a biker's jacket that she zipped up to her neck, though she couldn't hide the scar that snaked its way from her covered collar bone to her jaw line.  
  
"I trust you didn't have any trouble obtaining it?"  
  
Ororo took off her jacket and tossed it aside. "Only the usual. We don't have to worry about them anymore though."  
  
The woman unrolled the paper and glanced down on it, trying to decipher the faded print. Ororo looked over her shoulder before she collapsed back into a dusty, moth-eaten sofa. As she rubbed the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes trying to relax there came a loud banging on the wooden door. Ororo jumped to her feet as the other woman moved toward the hall. The banging was persistent as the doorkeeper opened a small slat and glanced outside.  
  
"Let us in! C'mon! Hurry!"  
  
The doorkeeper began to open the door in a flurry of movement as the voice from outside burst his way in and collapsed into the hall. More shouts could be heard from outside along with the low, rumbling tone of growls and snarls. A woman was next through the door, a deep gash to her cheek staining her face and hair with blood. Another figure clawed his way through the door but cried out in pain as he was pulled back by a clawed hand. Ororo rushed forward and clasped his wrist as she tried to pull him back in.  
  
"Don't let go! Plea-ARGH!"  
  
Ororo gritted her teeth and pulled with all her strength as a spray of blood dappled her face. "Hold on Tony!"  
  
The elder man's eyes shone with fright as his grip tightened on hers. She pulled hard and wrenched him through the door as the keeper slammed it shut, chopping a trapped limb off with the force of the heavy door. The limb thudded to the floor and then combusted into a pile of ash. In a lunging movement the doorkeeper slammed his fist into a large button on the wall illuminated the alley outside with ultra-violet light. The vampires outside screamed with inhuman agony as they exploded into balls of flame. Ororo looked up at the leather-clad woman standing over them as the two younger people stood to their feet a saluted.  
  
"At ease," said the woman emotionless. "Report."  
  
The young man caught his breath. "Intelligence was right, they're moving into the city centre and their numbers are increasing. It's not safe to stay here."  
  
Ororo spoke up. "The others?"  
  
The woman with the injured face bowed her head slightly. "Dead...they stayed back to cover our retreat but it doesn't look likely they made it either."  
  
Ororo lowered her eyes and continued to survey the injuries of the man in her arms. She peeled back his blood soaked flak-jacket to reveal a huge gash to his lower abdomen. The old man winced as she gently lowered his jacket down and glanced down at his legs to see a handful of puncture wounds. The man looked up at her feverishly.  
  
"A-Am I going to b-be al-alright?"  
  
Bloodstorm tried to keep her calm as she wiped the sweat from his brow and supported his head on her lap. "You'll be fine, Tony." She stroked his silver-grey hair.  
  
The man chocked slightly as he reached his trembling hand up to touch her face. "H-He alw-wayss lov-ed you..."  
  
Anthony Stark's tired eyes gently closed as the small smile on his pale lips faded. He let out a final breath; a sigh that drained his body of all pain and tension and then he was gone. Ororo gently lowered his head to the ground and stood up, turning to the leather-clad woman who didn't seem at all phased.  
  
"He's dead."  
  
She turned away back to the scroll on the desk. Ororo stepped between the young people and grabbed her by the arm, spinning her round and backing her up against the table.  
  
"I said he's dead!"  
  
"Then he's better of than we are."  
  
Ororo's eyes search the older woman's face for something she could recognise. "When did you get so dark, Kitty?"  
  
The woman turned away and slammed her fist on the table. "How many more times? It's Kat! And you know why I'm so dark, or have you forgotten!?"  
  
Ororo lowered her eyes, catching a glimpse of the gold band on Kat's left hand. She remembered the day well. She and a handful of the surviving X-Men had been ambushed; of all the deaths that day, Peter Rasputin's had scarred his newly married bride the most and since she had become a stern and callous woman. She moved away as Kat refocused her attention to the paper before her. Ororo turned to the two teenagers still standing before them, she nodded and they saluted and shuffled away into a side chamber.  
  
Kat turned from the table and in frustration shoved the paper off the end of the table, onto the floor. "It's hopeless! It's too faded!"  
  
"Don't give up hope. There may still be a way..." Ororo's voice trailed off in thought.  
  
She picked up the paper before donning her jacket and unhitching her sword from a wall display. Her mind drifted fondly to the memory of this sword...this gift. She had accepted it from a dear friend who like so many people in the world had fallen beneath the tooth and claw of the vampire menace. Shaking her mind clear, she strapped it across her back and turned back to Kat.  
  
"I'll be back soon!"  
  
Kat stepped forward. "Don't be insane - it's after dark! The streets will be teaming with them!"  
  
"Don't worry," Ororo said with a wry smile. "There's no one who can blend in more than me."  
  
To Be Continued... 


	2. Chapter 2

Ororo had taken the hidden exit onto the rooftops and gracefully made her way across the city, her keen senses alert constantly for anything. Glancing around to check no one could she she stealthily and silently vaulted from a rooftop to the far side of the street where she paused momentarily to sniff the air. Though her nostrils were constantly filled with the ravages of death she detected now threats nearby. Her destination was such that she could not afford to be followed.  
  
All memories of a time when the streets would be bustling with people and the sounds of everyday life had long since faded; bleed from every fibre of every being - from every brick of every building - by the tightening hold the vampires had on this world.  
  
Running down an alley she didn't even slow as she stepped up onto a grabage can and flipped over a barbed wire blockade. Landing on the other side, her foot carelessly went through the top od a putrifying skull, filling the silent night air with a sickening crunch and the smell of rotting brain matter. She remained motionless as she watched the shadows, her eyes piercing the veil of darkness like flood lights.  
  
For a moment she thought she was safe until a distant movement caught her attention. She watched as the movement got closer and with it seemed to multiply until she could pick out several figures moving through the gloom toward her. Slowly she reached round and drew her sword as the first figure dropped from a spiralling flip to a crouch a few hundred yards ahead of her. As this figure rose its head to snarl at her, its companions drew up along side it.  
  
"What's someone like you doing in a vampire ghetto after sundown?" said the lead vamp, standing to his full height.  
  
Bloodstorm remained silent, keeping her sword concealed behind her back.  
  
"She looks like wanna the Royals!" said another vamp, this one short and bald. "She sure ain't smelling like us."  
  
The lead vampire took a step forward. "So it remains to be known...just what exactly is your business here?"  
  
Without so much as another word Bloodstorm flicked out her leg, sending the rotting skull stuck on the end of her foot hurtling through the air where it shattered upon impact with the lead vampire's face. The movement was fast even for these vampires, who semlt as though they hadn't been turned more than a decade.  
  
As the first two vampires lunged forward through the air, Ororo's eyes were unblinking as she spun; arching her blade through the air and cleanly decaptating the closest. The other one dropped into a crouch beside her and attempted to sweep her legs from under her but she rammed her sowrd into his shoulder and then vaulted over his sweep and pulled her sword free, bringing it round and taking the vamp's head off.  
  
The bodies were dust before they even hit the ground as the lead vampire wiped the viscera from his face and ordered his remaining three commrades to attack. Ororo was unphased as she leapt to meet their advances - ramming her boot into the gut of the first, backhanding the second and slicing the thirds left arm clean off. Her opponents fell in heaps around her as she pivoted in the air and landed to face them.  
  
They snarled as they regrouped. The nearest one leapt from its fallen position to bring its claws down across her abdomen but Ororo grabbed his hand in hers and crushed every bone in his hand with her awesome strength. It roared in agony as she spun and roundhouse kicked the second approaching vampire, hearing the satisfying crack as she broke its jaw. The armless vamp squirmed in a pool of its own blood as it tried to escape but Ororo closed the distance and with a swipe of her blade sent his head tumbling across the ground where it combusted.  
  
Turning to regard the remaining threat, Ororo's eyes darkened as the sky was split by two huge bolts of lightning which tore through the chest cavities of the two lesser vamps; gravely injuring them. The lead vampire walked casually forward and slowly clapped his hands in applause.  
  
"I'm honoured...to actually meet the legend."  
  
Ororo watched him carefully. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"You. The Bloodstorm. You're a vampire legend now, didn't you know?"  
  
His words unnerved her. "Shut up."  
  
"I have to hand it to you; I mean, we owe you a lot."  
  
"I said SHUT UP!"  
  
Ororo leapt forward at him and kicked him in the jaw, the force causing him to bite off his own tongue. As he stumbled backwards, his mouht full of blood, Ororo pinned him down with a boot to his chest and rose her sword to end it. She gazed into his eyes as he smiled up at her with blood-stained teeth before her blade flashed in the half-light on the waning moon and the night air was filled once more with ashes.  
  
She put her sword back in its sheath and dusted herself off before continuing toward her destination. Her mind was troubled by the vampire's words as she desperately tried to clear her mind. Soon enough however, she reached her destination and her mind automatically returned to her duties. Silently she crossed the street and stood before a huge derelict building. It had once been a public library and though the upper floors were trecherous and condemned, the basement was filled with books and archive materials and the very person she needed to see.  
  
Moving around to the side of the building, she shifted a garbage cart to reveal a secret access hatch. She glanced around before descending and climbed down a small ladder before she stepped off into a small service elevator that had been installed years ago, before technologies were stolen or destroyed by the vampires. The elevator whirred quietly as it took her down into the tunnels leading into the basment after the main exits were all booby-trapped.  
  
Stepping off the elevator, Ororo made her way down a short passage before coming up against a huge metal door. She banged on it, the sound vibrating through the tunnel and echoing back eerily. Some moments later the door was opened by a young afro-carribean woman who looks out at Ororo.  
  
"Is he here?" Ororo asked.  
  
"Where else is he likely to be?" the woman asked callously.  
  
She moved to one side to let Ororo pass before directing her along a small hall to an old office. Ororo nodded in thanks and slowly made her way to the frosted glass door. She raised her hand to knock but a voice beyond told her to enter. She stepped into the vacant room to find a bare lightbulb hanging from the ceiling and the man she had come to see sitting in a chair with his back to her.  
  
As she closed the door, his head tilted slightly. "You're one of them, aren't you?"  
  
She was silent for a moment. "Yes."  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
"I am part of the resistance, we need your help."  
  
The man laughed softly as the chair swivelled round. Ororo looked on the man seated in his dirty rags in shock. His face was badly scared, his eyes shielded behind a pair of dark glasses. His trousers where folded up under the stumps of his legs which where missing below the mid-thigh. His name was Matthew Murdock. In his day he had been known as the DareDevil; one of the few survivors of the time of heroes - his legs taken from him by the cruel, black mascinations of the vampire scourge.  
  
"My help...what can I a blind man with no legs really do to help the resistance I wonder?"  
  
Ororo stepped forward, pulling the paper document she had brought with her from her jacket. She unrolled it and set it before him.  
  
"We need to know what it says on here."  
  
Murdock's dry and dirty hands moved toward the paper as his fingers trailed the fading print.  
  
"What is it you are looking for?" he asked.  
  
"A location. We need to know the whereabouts of the facility that document details."  
  
Ororo stood over him and waited patiently as Murdock's hands purposely trailed over the paper. Though the print had faded, it was still there and as such Murdock's enhanced sense of touch enabled him to "read" it. After a series of long minutes, Murdock lifted his head and offered the paper back to Ororo.  
  
"It's an underground facility; on the outskirts of the city. Twenty miles south-east of the old Xavier Institute."  
  
Her eyes dropped at the mention of that place, now no more than a gutted tomb and undoubtedly crawling with vampires like every other inch of this filth-ridden world. She took the paper back and said her thanks.  
  
"What are you going there for?" Murdock asked with intruige.  
  
"Rumour has it there's a body down there."  
  
Murdock's face crumpled in a frown. "What use is a body?"  
  
Ororo paused for a moment, unsure if she should say anything more. "It is supposedly where the vampires put Dracula's remains."  
  
Murdock glanced up at her, even though he could not see with his eyes the weight of his "stare" bore into her. "Dracula? What could you possibly do with that pile of old bones?"  
  
Ororo moved toward the door and pulled it half-open. "Ressurect him."  
  
To Be Continued... 


	3. Chapter 3

Talks had been going on for over an hour. Since Ororo had returned, she and Kat had been in talks with the resistance leaders utilising their limited communication technology. The location of Dracula's burial ground had been presumably located but the humans were exceptionally weary about trusting more vampires than they needed to.  
  
Ororo stood in the background listening whilst the leaders argued their reasons for finding another solution to liberate America. She wanted to argue her case, make them see that it was the only way but they would not listen to her. As a member of the resistance she was one of seldom few vampire operatives but as such she was awarded no place to interfere in plans that the leaders decided upon.  
  
On the static filled screen before them sat the imposing figures of the Resistance Core. Dr Reed Richards, once the genius leader of the Fantastic Four. His intellect had been taxed in attempts to combat the vampire's through science but resources were low and many attempts had had a concentrated effect at best. To his left was Admiral Bruce Wayne who in the early days had hung up his heroics as the Caped Crusader Batman to pour his energies into structuring the resistance. And finally to his left sat Colonel Steve Rodgers who's scarred face stared out grimly on the proceedings.  
  
"Agent Blade is M.I.A somehwere in Los Angeles and we've heard word from the Watcher's Council in London that another of their Slayers has perished. They're fast running out of young women to take up that particular mantle," said Admiral Wayne. "What are your thoughts Commander Rasputin?"   
  
"My thoughts on the vampires are well known. We have all lost much at their hands, but I also know Agent Munroe and she believes tha-"  
  
"We are not interested in what she believes Commander," snapped Dr Richards with frustration. "We want to know the security risks involved by possibly ressurecting the creature that used to rule over these demons!"  
  
Kat raised her eyebrow. "Security risks? Surely that's self explanitary, sir?"  
  
"Watch your tone Commander."  
  
There was a moments silence before Colonel Rodgers spoke; his tone low and dark. "In light of our recent losses it is decided. The plan is to be abandoned. I will contact the Illinois Division and initiate talks to evacuate the cities and impliment our nuclear arsenal."  
  
Ororo bowed her head as Kat saluted and the leaders ended their transmission. Turning back to face Ororo, Kat casually shrugged.  
  
"I tried."  
  
Ororo stared at her. "When did you try?"  
  
Kat scowled and moved past her. Ororo turned around and called after her.  
  
"Don't walk away from me!" Kat paused. "Don't..."  
  
"We have our orders."  
  
"Damn the orders! You know as well as I do it won't do a thing! A nuclear strike will drive the vampires underground. We're-" Ororo caught herself mid-sentence. "They're not stupid. All we'll achieve is to wipe out what limited shelter and resources we have drive that final nail into humanity's coffin!"  
  
Ororo looked at her old friend. The woman she had watch grow and blossom only to have revenge taint her heart and mould her into the person standing before her. Kat avoided direct eye contact as she ran her hand through her short hair.  
  
"What can I do? My hands are tied."  
  
"Do it for the future," Ororo moved closer. "Do it for the fallen. Do it for Peter..."  
  
Kat looked up with tears stinging her eyes. "Don't use him to get to me!"  
  
"You want to avenge him don't you!?" Ororo grabbed Kat by the arm and shook her.  
  
Kat pulled away. "Don't twist this!"  
  
"Then help me!"  
  
Not another word was said as Kat moved away and disappeared around a corner leaving Ororo to her own thoughts. Already she regretted pushing her friend so much but the clock was now ticking; she had to make amends - she had to set things right.  
  
Half an hour later Ororo sat in her plain quarters staring blankly at the concrete floor as a silent musing plagued her mind. Her eyes flicked to her desk where a her personal collection of spells lay, housed in a thick leather volume. Seizing her sword from beside her she headed toward the armoury. Her sword strapped across her back she also equipped herself with two dozen throwing stars and six grenades. Next she headed out into the main complex and moved toward the roof exit only to find Kat blocking the exit.  
  
"So you were going to leave without saying goodbye?"  
  
"If you won't help me, please - don't hinder me!"  
  
"I can't let you go."  
  
Ororo started to ascened the stairs but Kat remained stationary.  
  
"You know as well as I do that the Resistance doesn't care for my involvement. But whether they like it or not I am going to try and rectify what has gone wrong in this world!"  
  
"You're not a one-woman army!"  
  
Ororo looked at Kat side-long, her eyes darkening. "If you want to stop me, you'll have to fight me."  
  
Kat drew a stake from her jacket and toyed with it. "It can be arranged."  
  
Ororo stared in disbelief but then continued forward. Kat pushed off the wall and stood across the exit more fully but Ororo moved her to one side with her strength but Kat seized her wrist and pulled her back.  
  
"Let go." Ororo growled.  
  
"You're not going. We have our orders."  
  
"I told you, either let me go or kill me."  
  
Kat brought the stake streaking through the air and paused with the point hovering an inch above Ororo's heart. She held it there for a moment and looked deep into her friend's eyes before her stare softened and she let the stake drop where it clattered down the steps. Ororo lifted her hand and brushed Kat's cheek softly, tears threatening her own eyes.  
  
"You've grown up so much," her voice was distant.  
  
Kat brushed away her hand and shrugged off the brief glimpse of sentiment that flashed across her face. "I'm not a kid anymore."  
  
Ororo took her hand back and then cleared the stairs, opening the door to the roof; letting a chill wind dry her burgeoning tears before she turned back.  
  
"Goodbye Kitten."  
  
Kat closed her eyes, her mind drifting back to a time when she had been younger, innocent - care free. She remembered fun times, friends and loved ones and with a sorrowful sigh a tear rolled down her cheek. She looked up toward the door but Ororo was gone. Kat grasped the silver Star of David that hung round her neck and whispered onto the wind.  
  
"Goodbye."  
  
To Be Continued... 


	4. Chapter 4

She had followed the rooftops to the outskirts of the city before dropping down into the streets. She tried not to think about the terms on which she had left but it was either occupy her mind with those thoughts or look upon the carnage of the streets and relive the sights and sounds of all those she had cared for falling in battle. The air had hung with the scent of death and decay for some years now; it was unpleasant for humans but for someone with vampiric keen senses it held much more than just the stench of rotting flesh and charred bones.  
  
Unusually, she cleared the city limits without so much as a single encounter with any vampires. Her thoughts only dwelled momentarily on this fact but she didn't count her blessings too soon. Though the cities were now teeming with the undead, the more rural areas housed something far more unpleasant...Revenants were vampire cast-offs. Sometimes when a mortal was bitten they wouldn't turn into a vampire; instead they would become nothing more than a walking corpse with limited motor functions and intellect; slowly decaying over decades as they shuffled around in search for carrion.  
  
Ororo soon came to a small crossroads surrounded by woods that was almost peaceful and serene if not for the over-turned truck several hundred yards away. She knew exactly where she was...if she continued east she'd enter Graymalkin Lane and soon after would be standing before the gates of the old Xavier Institute. Her heart longed to go that way; to visit the early graves of those who fell first. But the greater sense of need pushed her in the opposite direction as she moved onward in search of the access hatch to the underground facility she was looking for.  
  
Her nose was her trusted ally for this task. So far out from the city, detecting unusual scents was easier and her eyes could detect much of the infra-red spectrum whihc would betray any hidden hatches under the grass or fallen leaves. But as it transpired, none of this was necessary as her nose was suddenly caught with the unmistakable scent of a lab.  
  
Following her senses took her off the road and into the trees. Though the scent was distant it was strong enough for her to follow for half a mile until she saw an old sewer tunnel with the grate hanging off. Though it wasn't the entrace she was looking for, she estimated she was in the right area and so approached the vent. Peering down into the darkness she couldn't detect the bottom but unpreturbed she slid inside the vent and used her elemental powers to descend effortlessly.  
  
When her feet finally met with a surface, she still found herself bathed in darkness. Her eyes could make out everything before her as she made her way along a narrow passage. Moulding boxes where scattered along with discarded files. The occasional rat skittered past in the gloom as Ororo passed through a set off squeaky double doors.  
  
Beyond she found herself standing in a lobby. Overhead a strip-light continuosly flickered casting an insane light on the few overturned chairs and scattered papers. As she looked left and right, trying to decide which way to go, she suddenly realised that this facility did not feel like the kind of place where the vampires would keep the remains of the once notrious Lord of the Undead. In fact, as she followed another corridor she could tell this place had not been used in decades. She picked up a handful of documents that where scattered on the floor and squinted in the gloom at them. Much was faded, but the dates didn't exceed the 1960s.  
  
Ororo came to another set of double doors. She pushed against it but found it was sealed shut and cold to the touch. Glancing through the small circular windows she could she that everything inside was covered in a thick frost. Puzzled, she drew back and prepared to kick the door through. Despite being sealed firmly, its forzen form shattered easily under her strength and the bizarre sound of the impact reverberated through the complex sending back eerie echoes.  
  
Stepping inside, Ororo's feet crunched on the thick frost as she glanced around for any further illumination. To her right was a large lever with cables leading to a large box. Flipping the lever popped several bulbs in the room as somewhere in the complex a generator stirred to life and lights flickered on. As she gazed around she found that the room was filled with out-dated consoles, many of which were damaged but more curiously in the center of the room was a large cylindrical container completely encrusted with ice; so much so that if there was anything contained within she could not see it.  
  
Ororo moved around the room and inspected the consoles when suddenly a sound came to her ears; someone else was in the complex. She heard cautious footsteps as she ducked to the left of the double doors and slowly drew her sword. The doors slowly opened as she lowered her blade to rest just level with the intruder's throat.  
  
"I thought I taught you how to sneak into installations without being detected?"  
  
A hand gently pushed the blade down as the familiar face of Kat stepped further into the room. "It wasn't me. A rat ran out in front of Sara."  
  
As Kat turned back to the door three other members of the resistance entered. Two of them - Luke and Sara - she had seen not too long ago after they had returned from a raid that had resulted in the death of Tony Stark amongst others. The third, another man, was called Jon and was new to the outfit, having been rescued from a vampire pack mere weeks ago. Ororo resheathed her sword and turned back to Kat.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
Kat shrugged with a glint of cunning in her eyes. "I can't stop you. I can't kill you. So I decided I have to help you."  
  
"What about your orders?" Ororo asked.  
  
"Damn the orders." Kat smiled at the repetition of Ororo's earlier words.  
  
Ororo smiled and moved forward, embracing Kat who momentarily tensed before melting into the welcoming show of affection. They held each other for a moment before the movements of the other brought them back to their senses. Jon and Luke were inspecting the central chamber whilst Sara glanced at some of the frozen consoles and the documents stuck to the tops.  
  
"Hey, anyone know who the Brimestone Society are?" she called out.  
  
"Not a clue," admitted Kat stepping over to look for herself.  
  
"The installation hasn't been used in decades," offered Ororo. "And I don't think the intelligence is right about Dracula being down here."  
  
"Well something is," said Luke inspecting the frozen chamber. "Look at these dials. This is a cryo-chamber and as dated as these consoles are there's definately someone - or something - inside."  
  
Kat cast a glance to Ororo. "Wanna wake them up?"  
  
With a nod, Ororo's eyes clouded as she used her weather weilding power to change the humidity of the room. Though the effect was slow at first, soon ice began to melt followed by a quick evaporation as the consoles thawed. After a matter of minutes Kat and the others where wiping sweat from their borws as Ororo broke off her concentration.  
  
"I can't thaw the main chamber. We need to try and get the system up to thaw it."  
  
Kat nodded and signalled Sare to her side as they pulled the front panels off one of the main consoles. Sara pulled some limited tools from her backpack and began splicing wires together and reworking power flow from damaged circuits. Moments later she nodded to Kat.  
  
"If you will," she said.  
  
Kat partially phased her index finger and ran it through the exposed wire cluster producing a low level disruption that sent a pulse through the system. It proved a flase start. Sara, with a scredriver hanging from her mouth, rearranged a few more wires and screwed down a second earth wire and motioned for a retry. This time the pulse succeeded as lights began to flicker on the console. Kat and Sara stood as Luke came over to look at the dials which were slowly coming to life and registaring information.  
  
As they toiled, Ororo walked over the chamber where Jon still stood. He was in his late twenties with jet black hair and green eyes. He noticed her looking and turned to stare back before his expression softened and he smiled. Ororo smiled back and turned her attentions back to the chamber and placed her hand on it. Almost instantly she recoiled as her mind flashed with frenzied images of age-old pain and anguish. She placed her hand back at her side and looked back over at the others.  
  
"Can you tell what's in this thing?"  
  
Luke glanced over. "Humanoid female. That's about it. So unless Drac has had a sex-change in the last few decades...But in fifteen minutes we'll have a better idea. Initiating thaw cycle."  
  
Ororo and Jon stepped back as a pulsing light emmenated from beneath the chamber, allowing Ororo to just make out the faint shape of a humanoid body. As they waited, Ororo walked over to the consoles and picked up a pile of soggy papers and skipped through them, scanning them for anything potentially useful. After several minutes she tossed them aside having learned nothing. She stared at the back of Jon's head as he watched the chamber. Something about im unnerved her though she failed to put her finger on it. As if he knew she was watching he turned to lok at her and Ororo was forced to avert her gaze back to the others.  
  
Several more silent minutes passed as the chamber reach the final stages of thawing. Inside could clearly be seen the slender figure of a young woman. She was clad in a skin tight black body suit. Her skin was exceptionally pale and her features were framed neatly by a short crop of thick red hair. Ororo stepped closer and once again placed her hand on the chamber, this time finding no such flashes as before. She gazed up at the woman suspended inside when suddenly her eyes flickered open and focused on her.  
  
Ororo took a shocked step back as the woman smashed through the chamber and launched herself forward, seizing Ororo by the throat and slamming her back against a wall. She snarled at Ororo and glanced back at the others who were battle ready despite the sudden shock. The woman blinked as she seemingly tried to form words though before anything could be said Kat phased up from the ground behind her and stabbed her in the back with a stilleto dagger.  
  
"AAARRRGGGHH!" the woman lashed out with her foot with speed and sent Kat flying backwards. "Bitch!"  
  
Ororo came to her senses then and struck out at her attacker, thrusting her palm into her face and sending her flying backwards and smashing through the already shattered chryo-chamber. Ororo fell to one knee, rubbing her throat as the woman got to her feet and glared at them all.  
  
"Who the £@(! are you people!?"  
  
"Hey!" shouted Kat, getting to her feet. "We're the ones asking the questions here! Now who the Hell are you and why did you attack us!?"  
  
"Because of her," the woman gestured half-heartedly towards Ororo. "She's a vampire."  
  
"And?"  
  
"I hunt vampires."  
  
Ororo took a step forward and sniffed the air. "You don't smell all that fresh yourself."  
  
The woman flipped her the finger. "I'm half vampire. For my trouble."  
  
"So who are you?" repeated Kat.  
  
"The name's Rayne," as the woman rose to her feet she flexed her arms as a set of long metallic blades extended from hinged gauntlets around her wrists. "BloodRayne."  
  
To Be Continued... 


	5. Chapter 5

"You're shitting me!?" Rayne's voice echoed through the installation. "What do you mean the bloodsucking bastards rule the world?"  
  
Half an hour had passed since Ororo, Kat and the other resistance memebers had found themselves in the presence of the...energetic Rayne. Though they had asked many questions, understandably Rayne was concerned in her own predicament. She had since been informed of the global situation and the state of play regarding humanity. Whoever the Brimstone Society had been they had long-since abandoned her to the cold of chryo-sleep. Rayne spun and kicked one of the derelict consoles close to her in frustration as Kat stepped forward.  
  
"we could use your helP,"  
  
Rayne let out a long breath. "Just tell me what happened."  
  
Kat turned back to Ororo who took a step forward and cleared her throat. "It's difficult to explain. We don't know all the details but we do no that an Ancient - more powerful than anything we've ever known - ascended to this plane of existence. Its rising caused a dramatic mass turning of millions, the plague was upon us before we knew what was happening. America fell in less than 24hrs. The vampires who already existed in the world heeded the call and the world knew nothing of what had happened."  
  
"So how come it wasn't contained?"  
  
"Like I said, no one knew what had happened. America just went quiet and then slowly but surely the vampires began to move. They have powerful and dark magicks at their disposal that could transport them global distances. Millions of vampires appeared directly in city centres and government installations - swiftly taking control. By dawn the survivors stepped out into a world of blood. Remaining world leaders were evacuated to form the Resistance as it is known and the world's heroes rose up to try and combat the situation."  
  
"Obviously they didn't do a good job." Rayne said dismissivly.  
  
Kat's face flushed with anger. "We lost friends and loved ones!"  
  
"And they're gone. If you ask me they had the easy way out."  
  
Kat launched herself forward, bringing her fist through the air to connect with Rayne's jaw. Rayne went to catch the fist but Kat phased her arm through the attempt and reformed to knock Rayne backwards. Growling, Rayne charged forward to retaliate but Ororo moved in front of her and blocked her path.  
  
"Enough! Fighting amongst ourselves solves nothing!"  
  
Kat turned back to the others as Rayne stared Ororo in the eyes. "So what's the plan?"  
  
"We're looking for someone. We thought he was here but our information was vague and it turned out to be you."  
  
"So who is this guy? An ex?"  
  
"Sort of," Ororo paused. "We're looking for Dracula."  
  
Rayne's eyes widened as she laughed. "Dracula? Seriously - are you nuts? He's a myth!"  
  
"Trust me," Ororo's eyes were dark and brooding. "He is no myth."  
  
"You ARE serious aren't you?"  
  
"Deadly."  
  
Another hour later, Kat lead the way out of the installation and back to the world above. Rayne peered around in the darkness and sniffed the air. Dawn threatened the sky with shades of red, making the sky look as though it were bleeding. Ororo placed a hand softly on Kat's shoulder who was still tense from Rayne's harsh words. The others were busy checking the packs and scouting the area for threats when Rayne stepped up to Ororo and tapped her on the shoulder.  
  
"So, where do ya go to get someone to eat around here?"  
  
Ororo's eyes narrowed. "I beg your pardon?"  
  
"I've been an icecube for the best part of half a century. I need something to warm me up."  
  
Kat and the others turned their attentions to Rayne in bewilderment but the look on her face told them that their new companion was deadly serious. Ororo looked at her with surprise.  
  
"You need to feed? I thought you were only half-vampire?"  
  
"You don't have much of a choice," Rayne glanced over Ororo's shoulder at Luke, Jon and Sara. "You want my help then I don't do it on an empty stomach."  
  
"Don't even think about it." Came Kat's voice before she signalled for the others to move off.  
  
Ororo followed after them, leaving Rayne to stand alone for a moment before she casually walked after them. Her mind was still clouded from five decades of sleep and part of her felt as though she was in some sort of nightmare and she longed to be risking life and limb deep in the heart of enemy territory, butchering Nazis. Back then she never had to worry about where the next meal was coming from...in this world she felt out of place; suspended in time. She sidled up beside Ororo once again and rekindled their conversation.  
  
"So what do you do for food?"  
  
Ororo kept her eyes ahead. "I survive."  
  
"You're a real mystery aren't you?" said Rayne with a smile. "So where we heading now?"  
  
"Back to base, we need to rethink our plans. We don't know where Dracula is and so we have to adhere to the Resistences' strategy."  
  
Rayne gave a sideways glance. "Which is?"  
  
"A nuclear strike."  
  
"Don't they know that won't do shit?"  
  
Ororo sighed. "I imagine they do. But they're desperate."  
  
Before Rayne could say another word, both she and Ororo's attentions were diverted to an unseen presence as their keen hearing picked up several persons tracking them through the trees. Rayne swivelled on her heels and brought her wrist blades round as Ororo unsheathed her sword.  
  
"Look alive people," shouted Rayne to Kat and the others. "We've got company."  
  
As Kat paused to turn round a vampire leapt out of the trees at her, claws streaking throuh the air. Kat leapt into the air to meet it and cracked her boot across it's jaw as other vamps lunged out of the darkness. Luke and Sara drew stakes as they were surrounded and Jon was tackled to the ground by another vamp. Ororo sliced her blade through the air gutting a female vampire as Rayne spun through the air, slicing off an arm and stabbing her silver stilleto heel blade into another vampire's chest.  
  
"What are they doing!?" shouted Kat, phasing through a lunge. "It's nearly dawn!"  
  
"Beats me!" replied Rayne, slicing a head clean off. "I just £@(!ing work here!"  
  
The smell of blood filled the air as Luke cried out in pain, a huge gaping slash wound on his left side. He fell to one knee as Sara shielded him behind her and rammed a stake deep into the chest cavity of the culprit. With an inhuman cry and a implosion of fire and ash the vampire was no more as another landed to take its place. This one was dragged backwards as Kat threw her arm around its throat before slamming a stake into its heart, surrounding herself in a swirl of dust.  
  
Menawhile Ororo kneed a vamp in the groin and twisted its head 360 degrees before wrencthing it clean off. Rayne sliced a vamp across the chest and then leapt over it, pincering it between her legs whilst she bit into its throat. The vampire screamed as Rayne drained it of its own blood. When Rayne had finished, she flipped off and booted the vamp forward where it stumbled into the path of Ororo who arched her blade and sliced clean through its waist, dropping two seperate writhing segements.  
  
The remaining vampires were surrounding Kat and the others as they tried in vein to hold them back. Rayne leapt forward as Ororo took to the air and they hacked into the vampires who turned wild-eyed and bellowing with rage. The last fell quickly, dropping in piles of ash and flaking bone as they were decapitated.  
  
As the dust settled Kat immediately turned to Luke who was lying on the ground and going into shock from his extensive injuries. Sara tried to staunch the blood flow by applying pressure tot he wound but as Kat knelt beside her and placed a soft hand on hers they both knew there was no hope. Luke's breathing was erratic and shallow as his face was pale and speckled with sweat. His wild eyes flickered as his blood spilled out to stain the grass. As the first rays of the early morning sun began to filter through the trees, Luke died.  
  
Sara wept silently to herself as Kat consoled her. Rayne and Jon stood indifferent in the background whilst Ororo turned her attentions to the gurgling of the top half of the vampire she had severed. She stalked over to it as it tried to crawl its way into the trees. Placing her boot on its back she pushed its head into the ground, hearing bones crack.  
  
"Speak!"  
  
The vampire growled as blood oozed from it mouth. Ororo kicked it over onto its back and glared down at it. The vampire's eyes were opaque orbs as the strange sound of blood-soaked laughter filled the air.  
  
"yyeeeeerr...ttooo la-la-lattteeeee..."  
  
The vampire lay still as the last of its strength failed it and dappled sunshine filtered down through the branches. Its skin charred and blackened before the corpse ignited and combusted into a cloud of cinders. The tone of its voice unnerved Ororo as she turned back to the others.  
  
"Let's move!"  
  
Taking to the air, the others were forced to follow on foot as the world around them was illuminated by the rays of the morning sun. From her vantage point in the sky, Ororo scanned the distant horizon not wanting to believe the thoughts that raced through her head. Crossing the city limits, Kat called out to her but she ignored it a pressed onward but ultimately she paused in mid-air as her eyes caught the sight of black smoke on the horizon and her nose detected the scent of fresh battle and death. Dropping to the ground she turned to Kat, her eyes heavy.  
  
Without saying a word, Kat seemed to know the unspeakable and charged forward tearing down the streets with the others close behind, until they turned the corner to a scene of utter carnage. All around lay the scattered and eviscerated bodies of members of the Resistance. Though an eerie silence - save for the sound of flames crackling - shrouded the death scene, Ororo could seemingly hear the screams and cries of the fallen as she steadied herself against a wall.  
  
Kat took a numb step forward and collapsed to her knees as she gazed at the devestation in shock. Sara turned her teary eyes away from the bodies and cried into Jon's shoulder who stared blankly at the scene. Only Rayne seemed immune as she stepped forward to a pool of thick black blood and dipped her fingers into it. She sniffed the substance before she tasted it, turning to the others to speak.  
  
"Vampires."  
  
"No shit!" Kat choked back an angry sob.  
  
Rayne ignored her angst. "Looks like this was planned. I wouldn't be surprised if our abush wasn't part of the plan."  
  
"So what do we do now?" asked Sara, trying hard to hold back her tears.  
  
Kat stood to her feet defiantly and turned to Ororo. "We go ahead with the plan."  
  
Sara glanced over at Ororo who was still staring blankly at the bodies before turning back to Kat. "But what about our orders?"  
  
"Orders!?" Kat took a long stride toward Sara and gestured to the corpses littering the street. "This is what orders get you! As of this moment we're not following orders. Anyone here who doesn't feel comfortable with that can leave."  
  
"So you've got balls after all, hmmm Kitty-Kat?" chimmed Rayne.  
  
Kat spun furiously at Rayne and brought her face close to hers, staring into her fierce eyes. "I'm warning you! Keep your wisecracks to yourself unless you've got something intelligent to contribute."  
  
Rayne smiled. "I admire you. In my day, the women weren't as strong-willed as they seem to be today."  
  
Rayne patted Kat on the shoulder and strode past her. Kat turned to find Ororo standing close by, seemingly capable of functioning after the initial shock. She went up to her and touched her arm, diverting her attention from the bodies to Kat's eyes.  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
Ororo nodded placing a hand on Kat's arm. "Yes, I'll be fine. Thank you."  
  
"What do you want to do?"  
  
"We still need to find Dracula."  
  
Kat sighed in doubt. "Do you think he'll help us - even if we find him?"  
  
"We know he isn't the cause of all this evil in the world. I know him; it isn't his style. Wherever he is...I think he'd want to put things right."  
  
"Any idea on where we should start looking?"  
  
Ororo cast a glance over to where Rayne was standing. "I think I do."  
  
To Be Continued... 


	6. Chapter 6

The plan had been decided. It was far-fetched but it was there only chance. Taking to a nearby rooftop, Ororo and Rayne knelt before each other as Ororo extended her arm and brought her sharp nails to her wrist. Rayne looked at her briefly.  
  
"You sure this is going to work?"  
  
"Nothing is certain, but it is our only hope. Dracula made me; therefore his blood runs through my veins. If you drink my blood I am hoping your Aura Sense can help you locate Dracula's whereabouts."  
  
"If you say so."  
  
No more words were spoken as Ororo slit her wrist. The blood flowed freely and Rayne took up her wrist and pressed it to her lips. The blood was fiery on Rayne's pallet, like nothing she'd tasted before, as her eyes pulsed with the combined energies of the vampire and the elemental fury of Ororo's mutant powers. It tasted good. But despite her decade-long hunger - suppressed only by the tainted blood of a vampire she had fed on in an earlier conflict - she forced herself to focus and after a moment more she broke off.  
  
Ororo slumped back, clutching her wrist as the wound healed and Rayne swallowed the last mouthful of blood and stared off into the middle distance. Her Aura Sense was a useful ability allowing her to see an enemy's health status and awareness as well as doubling as night vision; but most importantly it enabled her to locate targets.  
  
At first she saw nothing but the auras of Ororo and the other who sat on the roof ledge waiting. But their auras were red and not what she was looking for. Just then a small pin-prick of intense blue light entered her field of vision. It was distant but strong; unless she was mistaken they had found their next destination. Rayne came back to her sense and smiled.  
  
"Got 'im!"  
  
Two hours later Kat, Sara, Jon continued to wait on the roof waiting as Ororo and Rayne sat in a deep state of meditation. There was a large distance to be covered and with their headquarters having being burned to the ground they had little to no resources and certainly no means of practical transport. As such it was up to the mystic energies of Ororo to amass to such a degree that she could safely traverse a vast margin of the distance by linking mind and soul to Rayne, using her Aura Sense as a homing beacon. Kat watched intently, wishing she could help in some way, as Ororo gently opened her eyes.  
  
"Guiding Spirits I ask your charity,   
  
Lend me your focus and your clarity.   
  
Bring me to Dracula at this time,   
  
Restoring me that and my peace of mind.   
  
With harm to none,   
  
This spell be done."  
  
Kat, Sara and Jon stood and approached the two kneeling women, linking hands in a circle around them as Ororo continued her rite, staring deep into Rayne's eyes.  
  
"Separate now, but soon will link,  
  
My soul and yours shall finally sync.   
  
My pride is fiery and so too shall yours be,  
  
Just follow the flame, so mote it be.   
  
Anima mea, turbata et valde sed tu domine, usqueguo!"  
  
In an instant everyone's vision was filled with a pure white light as the very awareness of the physical form vanished leaving them nothing more than incorporeal conscious entities. As their minds swirled in a mystical void they suddenly felt the force of magickal transportation as their very essence seemed to be stretched like a huge piece of elastic. Then as if the furthest end had been cut, they felt themselves catapulted from one point in time and space to another before their spiritual essence was forced back into their physical bodies and they were flung into the material plane was again.  
  
Rayne rolled to a crouch and caught Sara who flew through the air toward her as Kat phased through a wall she headed toward. Ororo and Jon were flung to the floor and tumbled hard but got to their feet as they dusted themselves off before glancing around. Kat came back through the wall.  
  
"Anyone know where we are?"  
  
"Does it matter?" asked Jon, inspecting his grazed forearm.  
  
"Rayne?" Ororo prompted.  
  
Rayne nodded and activated her Aura Sense once again, glancing around. Her senses reeled a little from the mode of transport they had used and her stomach threatened to rebel against her as she detected the pulsing blue orb - now much larger - shining out through their surroundings.  
  
"I'd say about another half a mile." she said turning back to the others.  
  
"Couldn't you get us any closer?" asked Sara.  
  
"Unfortunately temporal magicks are unpredictable at best."  
  
"Don't sweat it 'Ro," said Rayne patting her on the back. "I could use the time to walk my stomach straight."  
  
Taking a short moment to check their equipment before moving off with Rayne leading the way. Though they had no idea exactly where they were they were prepared for anything...anything that is except for the sight that met their eyes as they came out into a large square twenty minutes later.  
  
Jon covered his nose as Sara puked up a wall at the sight and smell coming from the hundreds upon hundreds of decaying bodies impaled on iron spikes. Men, women, children - none had been spared from the heinous tortures inflicted. The ground was littered with dried blood and viscera impregnated with swarms of flies and maggots and in the distance piles of bones, picked clean by flocks of crows had been bleached by the sun.  
  
Ororo stepped forward in horrified awe. "Monstrous..."  
  
Kat stepped up beside her. "Could Dracula have done this?"  
  
"Perhaps..." Ororo's eyes feel to the floor.  
  
Rayne approached, her eyes never leaving the desolation and despair forever entombed on the faces of the damned souls hanging around them.  
  
"Some piece of work, huh?"  
  
"How much further?" asked Kat.  
  
Once again Rayne search for Dracula's aura and to her astonishment gazed high into the air. The others followed her gaze as clouds began to part to reveal a towering structure clad in bones. An enormous citadel of death stood mere metres ahead of them; the impaled humans present to welcome visitors and trespassers alike to their eventual fate.  
  
"He's up there." Offered Rayne, pointing toward one of the high turrets of the monstrous spectacle of macabre architecture.  
  
Rayne moved off through the "forest of the dead" when Jon called out. "Sh-shouldn't we wait until nightfall?"  
  
Kat turned back to him with a confused glance. "Are you serious? Daylight is our only advantage against these monsters and you want us to waste what time we have left and try a night time assault? Do you want us to get killed!?"  
  
Sara walked past Jon to join the others as they headed toward the citadel. Jon paused for a moment, his face clouded before he moved after them. Shortly after they stood on the steps leading up to a huge door clad with skulls. Ororo nodded to Kat who ascended and phased through the door before moments later phasing back out and signalling the all clear. Whilst Sara, Jon and Rayne linked hands with Kat and phased through, Ororo turned to her mist form and seeped under the door, reforming to stand amidst her comrades.  
  
Their movements echoed unnaturally through the cavernous halls in which they stood and Ororo wondered just what had possessed Dracula to revert to his old ways if he truly was residing in this place. Rayne took point and signalled for the others to follow as she climbed a large ornate staircase. Ororo followed with Kat and Sara close behind as Jon covered the rear, his nervous eyes glancing around at his surroundings casting shades of doubt into Ororo's already troubled mind.  
  
At the top of the stairs the entered a large chamber clad in marble. Though there was not a single window in the place, their surroundings were illuminated by dozens of large candelabras which still burnt with dull candlelight. The floor was littered with several bodies and above them hung three steel cages which also contained bodies. Ororo stepped over the nearest one and inspected it, finding savage wounds to the throat. Rayne did the same on one of the caged bodies to find puncture wounds on the wrists.  
  
"Look's like someone had quite a party..." her voice reverberated around the hall.  
  
They made their way forward, unable to do anything but pray for the poor souls who had perished. They found a small exit behind a large marble pulpit and ducked inside to climb a narrow spiral staircase. This brought them out into a tall corridor with arched ceilings adorned with gilding and chaotic paintings. Rayne pointed down the corridor to a door at the far end as the others followed her toward it.  
  
Ororo paused halfway along as she suddenly tensed. Her senses seemed on edge as the other moved forward but she could not explain it at all. Rayne ran her fingers across the door as if studying it and turned back.  
  
"He's on the other side of this door." she called out quietly, her voice travelling easily in the silence.  
  
Kat stepped forward, ready to phase through the door when Ororo moved at high speed to grab her wrist. She slowly softened her grip and smiled.  
  
"Be careful."  
  
With a nod, Kat was gone; phasing through the door. The few short moments were agonising before she phased back through the door holding on to a pale and emaciated form who slumped to the ground as soon as Kat released her grip. Ororo stood before this fractured being instantly recognising him but refusing to believe what she saw. Gently, she lowered to her knees and when she spoke her voice betrayed her emotion.  
  
"V-Vlad...?"  
  
The broken man lifted his bruised and battered face to look into her kind eyes. She could still see the once noble creature burning in his eyes as he struggled to form words. Suddenly a muffled cry was heard as all turned to find Jon holding a knife to Sara's throat as he covered her mouth. Behind him stood dozens of vampires all glaring and snarling. As Rayne readied herself for a fight, Ororo's nose twitched with yet another familiar scent. The horde of vampires parted then as a shadowy figure stepped forward. It was powerful, dominant and female. As the candlelight caught her face Ororo gasped in amazement at the figure that stood before her.  
  
"Nice of you to drop by, sweetness!"  
  
"Mary Kelly!?"  
  
To Be Continued... 


	7. Chapter 7

Everyone stood dumbfounded. They had traversed a vast distance in search of the whereabouts of the once ruler of the vampires - Dracula. Having discovered he was not dead, they had been disturbed to find him locked away like an animal in a cell but had been even more shocked to be confronted by a woman - if that was what you could call her - and to be betrayed by one of their own number. Now Ororo stood defiantly before the sinister vampiress and her cadre of followers ready for anything.  
  
"Mary Kelly!?"  
  
The vampiress grinned. "The one and only."  
  
Mary Kelly. The most mutilated victim of Jack the Ripper. However, unbeknownst to the constabulary at the time, the Ripper was not merely a man of flesh and blood but a creature of insurmountable darkness; an ancient vampire. He had been approached by Mary Kelly, a young Irish prostitute, and he had set about to continue his bloody killing spree and yet at the moment of death, he spared her; welcoming her into his Dark Embrace. From there, the newly reborn Mary revelled in the powers at her command as "Jack" had found another young girl - almost identical - to which Mary could satiate her fledgling hunger. Back in her home, she fed, and for some time after she watched the still body of the young girl as if looking into a mirror. Sickened by the "reflection" of her own death she mutilated the body on her own bed before admiring her own fury. Before dawn, the two vampires left, leaving the unrecognisable body to be found some hours later and identified as Mary Kelly.  
  
Now the vampiress was utterly insane but cunning and deadly at the same time. Kat stormed to the front and looked at Jon. "What are you doing?! Let Sara go!"  
  
Jon's eyes were filled with rage as he pulled Sara's head back, pressing his knife harder against her throat. Mary took a gleeful step over to Jon and ruffled his hair before licking the side of his face.  
  
"This precious darling belongs to me and he was kind enough to relay your plans, your security codes and the locations of local resistance headquarters."  
  
Ororo bowed her head as Kat lunged for the vampire. Mary Kelly giggled and swatted the anger-blind Kat to the ground before pirouetting back to the head of her horde; flicking her tongue over her monstrous canines. She bobbed her head to try and make eye contact with Ororo but she noticed instead the cowering form of Dracula behind her legs. Mary scowled and stamped her foot.  
  
"Bad puppy! Come here!"  
  
Dracula's glazed eyes flickered to his potential saviours then to Mary and back again. The vampiress unhitched a silver-studded whip from her belt and cracked it in the air. Dracula twitched at the mere sound and began to crawl toward Mary until he was within striking distance and she grabbed him by his hair, dragging him closer toward him and slapping him hard in the face.  
  
"Bad, bad puppy!"  
  
Ororo's fists clenched as she raised her head, staring directly at Mary. "How did you do it?"  
  
Mary looked up with surprise and gestured about her. "What this? This is what a true father gives his children - not the pitiful existence this lowlife-" Mary booted Dracula in the face. "Gave me! Our new lord gave me the power and the means to become my worth!"  
  
"Who? Who is your master!?" Kat stormed forward.  
  
Mary smiled secretively and stared seductively at Ororo. "Can't you...feel him?"  
  
Ororo made a slight gesture to move but found that Mary was much quicker as she lashed out with her whip, ensnaring Ororo around the neck before pulling her hard to the ground.  
  
"You may kneel!" Mary laughed insanely.  
  
The tension of the whip slackened as Mary looked back to find Rayne standing defiantly behind Ororo. Mary's eyes clouded as her facial features became more feral and she growled at Rayne's interference.  
  
"May I cut in?" chimed Rayne with a sarcastic air. "Bitch."  
  
Mary let out an inhuman roar as her vampires heeded her call and launched forward to attack. Mary tried to loose herself in the surge of bodies but Rayne leapt through the air, pivoting and landing directly in front of the retreating Mary Kelly. Mary crouched low and lashed out, catching her across the face with razor sharp claws as Rayne geared up for a tough fight.  
  
Meanwhile Kat back flipped through the air and let fly with a handful of silver shurikens hitting vamps square in the forehead and chest. Dracula scurried to the sidelines as Ororo swung her legs low and knocked three vamps onto the hard marble floor; she then lunged forward and raked her claws through flesh and bone in an attempt to reach Sara who was struggling against Jon's grasp. Sara had back-head butted Jon and elbowed him in the ribs but he still held her by the hair as he swung his knife through the air.  
  
Ororo snatched Jon by the wrist and pulled his arm sharply backward, dislocating him at the elbow. Jon cried out in pain but brought his other hand round to punch Ororo in the face. Sara stumbled to the ground finding herself in the middle of the fray as Kat lets out a battle cry and rams a stake through the heart of a vamp filling the air with a surge of cinders. Sara picks herself up and rushes to her aid, launching herself through he air and slamming kicking another vampire in the spine.  
  
As Ororo swings round to take Jon's head clean off, he ducks and spins, scooping up his knife with his good hand and ramming it sharply upward between two of Ororo's ribs. She grunts in agony as she drives her elbow down on his other arm, shattering his forearm as he slumps to the ground - both arms throbbing with agony. Ororo pulls the dagger out and clutches her hand to her wound as blood spills out over her fingers. The injury burned as she tried to keep herself steady. Silver weaponry was standard issue for resistance members...and it hurt - a lot.  
  
Down the corridor, Rayne vaulted a sweep and ran up a wall, spiralling off it and slicing Mary across the face with her boot blade. Mary cursed as she spun to the ground but she was quick to her feet as blood poured down her cheek. Mary grabbed Rayne by the arm and threw her hard into the wall and then high-kicked Rayne in the throat, pinning her in place. Rayne grabbed Mary by the ankle and twisted her sharply, spinning her to the ground but not before Mary arched her other leg around and cracked Rayne in the jaw.  
  
Amidst the vampires, Kat and Sara fight back to back as they find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. Sara punches out, catching one vamp hard on the nose but another rakes its claws across her arm. She recoils in pain and boots the offending vampire in the groin as Kat throws a silver dagger into another vampire's sternum. Sara's screaming catches her attention as Kat turns to find her in the grasp of a vampire; its fangs tearing into her neck. Kat lunges herself forward, phasing the vampire and herself backward until they begin to phase through a wall. Kat part-phases the vampire and then breaks contact, causing the creature to solidify embedded in the wall - the result bellow of agony catching all the other vampire's attentions.  
  
Mary Kelly, however, is not distracted by the cries of her children as she strains against Rayne's strength as the half-vampire attempts to scissor-slice Mary's head off between her silver wrist blades. Mary head butts Rayne and knees her in the kidneys, rolling her opponent off as she kicks to her feet, arching her leg in the air and stamping down hard on Rayne's stomach, causing the half-vampire to cough up blood. Unperturbed, Rayne grabbed Mary's foot and flung her backward before rolling to her feet and performing a spinning back kick, slamming the vampiress hard against the wall.  
  
Ororo, now on her knees as her blood poured freely onto the floor, struggled to stay conscious as she crawled toward Kat and the wounded Sara, still swamped with vampires. Mustering her strength she set her mind to focus as she feverishly recited a critical spell.  
  
"Rivers Shall Flow,   
  
Be Pure and crystalline.   
  
But red rivers must not,   
  
They must be trapped inside my being.   
  
This river so red,   
  
Must Be Stopped with a Golden Net.   
  
Stop now this bleed!"  
  
As she slumps forward a golden glow penetrates her wound, instantly stopping the blood flow and allowing her own vampiric regenerative capabilities to heal. Her strength returning, Ororo stood to one knee and glanced back toward her friends as Kat came phasing through the vampire horde, clutching onto Sara who was weakly clasping on through injuries and fatigue. Kat stumbled and fell, as Sara slipped from her grasp not fully clear from the vampires. Kat unphased and hit the ground hard as she turned to see Sara dragged back by three vampires who instantly clamped their teeth around her wrists and throat. Kat cried out in despair as she reached for Sara as Ororo rose into the air, her eyes dark and burgeoning with power as her voice filled the air like thunder itself.  
  
"Fire, fire burning bright,   
  
May darkness here turn into light!   
  
As my will is burning bright,   
  
By Apollo I call forth the Sun's Might!"   
  
At her word the air over the vampires was suddenly illuminated with the harsh light of day. Though brief, the action was swift and effective as the undead horde turned to search out the source of the light; their skin blackening and cracking as their hair and clothes began to smoulder. With a unified cry of anguish and death each vampire combusted simultaneously as the hall descended back into candlelit gloom, with the added illumination of the glowing embers of the mass vampire grave.  
  
The air was still and silent save for the dull crackle of the charred bodies. Ororo turned away to find Mary Kelly's form slump at her feet with Rayne standing triumphantly over her. Kat rushed to the side of the fallen Sara who was pale and shaking as she lay waiting for her wounds to take her.  
  
"Pp-please...Kat...d-don't le-et me d-die!"  
  
Kat clasped Sara's hand in hers tenderly and looked down on her, tears stinging her eyes. She spared a glance back to Ororo who sadly shook her head.  
  
"I'm sorry, Sara." whispered Kat.  
  
Sara's face flushed with sincere fear. "I-I don't wa-want to c-come baaackk..."  
  
Ororo knelt beside Kat and stroked Sara's forehead softly. Kat looked between her friends unsure of what was to come next.  
  
"Close your eyes." said Ororo to Sara.  
  
Sara's eyelids fluttered shut as Ororo silently brought a stake from behind her. Kat's eyes were wide as she felt Sara grip her hand tighter. Not hesitating, Ororo plunged the stake through Sara's heart, the human convulsing with an instants pain before relaxing into death; a small ebb of blood trickling from her mouth. Kat lowered Sara's limp hand before turning to Ororo's arms, embracing her old friend as she had when she was a child; sobbing away years of pent up pain and anguish.  
  
Mary Kelly squirmed under Rayne's boot, her own back blood oozing from her mouth. Rayne stuck her heel deeper into her spine, causing the vampiress to emit a high-pitched wail of pain. Kat broke away from Ororo and glared across the hall at the fallen form of Jon who still cradled his injured arms. She stood up and walked over to him, towering over him with rage broiling across her face.  
  
"Get up." Jon looked up at her, shock glazing his eyes. "GET UP!"  
  
Jon staggered to his feet, finding Kat dragging him the rest of the way by his jacket collar. She waited for him to find his legs before she let go and drew back, slamming her fist square into his nose, sending blood squirting left and right as Jon slumped back against the wall and slid back to the floor.  
  
Meanwhile, Ororo moved over to Dracula who spent the entire incident huddled in a shady alcove. He winced slightly as she crouched next to him and physically jumped as she stroked the back of his neck. The sorrow she felt for him was a strangely potent feeling. In decades past she would have done everything she could to stop his malicious plans, yet ultimately he was her maker - her father - and as such she loved and respected him. He was draped in merely rags and his pale skin was visible; covered in recent bruises, burns and lacerations slow to heal in his weakened condition.  
  
Ororo turned and signalled Rayne who stuck one of her wrist blades into Mary Kelly's lower spine, lifting her high into the air and the vampiress hissed and wailed in agony. Rayne brought Mary near and let her drop to the floor where her jaw bounced off the hard marble. Ororo turned back to Dracula who was peering out from the darkness with luminous eyes.  
  
"Look at her," she said. "She is nothing."  
  
Mary hissed. "Nothing!? I am-!"  
  
Rayne booted Mary in the back of the head, forcing her face to smack into the marble, instantly silencing her. Dracula continued to look at his captor as reached out slowly with a bony, calloused hand which clenched into a fist that he swung sharply to the ground, impacting the marble a fraction away from Mary Kelly's head. Ororo reached out and touched his clenched hand which instantly relaxed and lightly grasped her fingers as she helped Dracula to stand to his feet. He looked down into her eyes and tenderly kissed her forehead.  
  
"Thank you, beloved."  
  
Ororo supported him. "You are weak. You need to feed."  
  
A second impact on the marble caught their attentions as Kat threw Jon down in front of them. She looked at Ororo but didn't need to say a word. Ororo nodded and let go of Dracula who bent down, seizing Jon by the throat and despite his weakness, lifting him high into the air with a single hand. Jon was wild-eyed and in shock as he tried to mumble a defence but his breath caught in his throat as Dracula tore into his throat and gorged himself on the hot tang of fresh blood - denied him for many long years.   
  
As the final breath left Jon's lips and his eyes rolled back into his head, Dracula let his corpse slump to the ground as he stretched; his body almost immediately healing and filling out as muscle definition rippled across his body. When he turned back to Ororo he looked on her with the roguish handsomeness she remembered and his eyes were fiery with the passion for unlife he had once possessed. He glanced down on Mary Kelly who was still squirming under the boot of Rayne and moved toward her. Grasping her by the hair, he dragged up and glared into her eyes. She spat blood-streaked spittle in his face as he slapped her across the face with monstrous strength.  
  
"Worthless wench! You dare to think yourself better than me!"  
  
Mary hissed with contempt but Dracula was unphased as he grabbed her around the throat with his other hand and pulled until vertebrae and cartilage exploded and Mary Kelly's head was pulled clean from her body. Their was a split-second where Mary's severed head blinked and then as Dracula tossed the refuse to the ground, they combusted into a cloud of dust which swirled about them as he turned to Ororo, Rayne and Kat.  
  
"Ladies," he graciously bowed.  
  
"A smooth one ain't he?" whispered Rayne to Ororo.  
  
Kat stepped toward him, her eyes dark. "Listen to me. I don't much care for you or what your kind has done. But when all else fails, we need you."  
  
Dracula turned his gaze to Ororo who nodded. "We have to find away to stop this madness and bring down the leader of the vampire nation. Will you help us?"  
  
"Naturally," Dracula's eyes flared. "For I know where the bastard sleeps!"  
  
"So let's move!" said Rayne, confidently.  
  
"Just the four of us?" inquired Dracula with uncertainty.  
  
"He's right," admitted Kat. "We wouldn't stand a chance."  
  
Ororo's eyes illuminated with thought. "Then we go recruiting."  
  
To Be Continued... 


	8. Chapter 8

Dusk had fallen; the sky was tinged with the last dying rays of the sun as a thin blanket of stars dappled the indigo sky. The air was cooling and a light mist was rolling in on the docks. The only movement came from that of four unlikely companions:  
  
Ororo Munroe, Bloodstorm, had been turned into a vampire and had spent every day since her transformation fighting and denying what she was. She is also a mutant - capable of controlling the Nature's very elements. Kat Rasputin. A fellow mutant capable of "phasing" through solid matter; now leader of the vampire resistance. BloodRayne. A dhampir discovered frozen in an underground facility enlisted to help in the war against the undead. And Dracula, discovered as the personal play-thing of a sinister vampiress and recently liberated from his chains to aid them.  
  
"Are you sure this is going to work?" asked Kat. "No one's heard from him in years."  
  
"I have faith," replied Ororo.  
  
As Kat and Ororo walked on, Rayne hung back curiously surveying Dracula. He smiled courteously as she moved to walk alongside him.  
  
"What can I do for you, my dear?" he asked in a smooth tone.  
  
"I'm curious," she admitted. "I mean, I always thought you were a myth."  
  
Dracula chuckled to himself. "If I had a pint of blood for every time I have heard that-"  
  
"You'd be fat."  
  
Rayne and Dracula both looked at each other before they began laughing quietly to themselves. They soon caught up with Ororo and Kat who had stopped and were glancing out across the murky waters. Rayne squinted through the thickening mist, unsure at what they were looking at.  
  
"What is it?" she asked.  
  
Ororo did not speak; instead she gestured with her hand as the elements obeyed her command, sweeping the mist clear to reveal a gigantic structure. Upon closer inspection, they could see that it was the stern portion of a large oil tanker which had half-sunk into the oil-slick waters. Rayne whistled, impressed, as Kat turned to Ororo.  
  
"Are you sure about this?"  
  
Ororo nodded before glancing back toward the huge structure. Taking a step back Ororo flung herself through the air and landed perfectly on a metal strip. She signalled to the others as Kat phased, letting her lighter form float up through the air as both Rayne and Dracula followed Ororo's example and leapt the distance.  
  
When everyone was ready, they cautiously made their way down to the access hatch which would take them below deck. The hatch however was sealed tightly shut and Kat had to phase everyone through to the topsy-turvy world beyond. The angle at which the tanker was resting had turned the inside of the vessel on its head and the walkways - once ceilings - where covered in debris and treacherous.  
  
They made steady progress through the ships decks being greeted by the startled squeaks of rats. As they turned a corner, they found there way blocked by a collapsed bulk head. Doubling back they came across a semi-blocked hatched which buckled under the combined force of the three vampires and gave way to a dim mess hall filled with the stench of death.  
  
Kat pulled a flare from her belt, casting the room in an eerie red glow. All around them on the walls, floors and ceiling where rotting bodies. Dracula stepped up to one and peered at its shrivelled face, noticing the elongated canines. The other bodies were similarly equipped as Ororo inspected the extent of their injuries, finding their skin had ruptured all over and dried blood was streaking the room. Upon closer inspection, it was noticed that large slivers of metal were embedded in their chests.  
  
"This would not have killed them alone." commented Dracula.  
  
Ororo looked at the surfaces behind the bodies, all around where deep gouge marks. Inspecting the dead vampire's fingers she found that they had been worn down to the bone. She stepped back concerned.  
  
"Not unless they were held in place..."  
  
At her words the tanker gave an unearthly shudder as bulk heads and metal groaned. Quickly, they made their way out, stepping out of the mess hall. Ororo was forced to hold the others back as a metal chair frame hurtled through the air toward her; she arched her head as it shot past, crashing into the wall further along. She sniffed the air, carefully suppressing the overwhelming stench of death.  
  
"This way." She said with renewed confidence.  
  
As she led the others forward, the shudders of the tanker increased, causing debris to slide toward them. The four companions pushed forward, ducking, deflecting and phasing their way back to the entrance. Rayne glanced over toward a small cabin where she could see the small flicker of candlelight. She motioned the others as they made their way forward to what turned out to be the captain's quarters.  
  
Ororo took front and waved back the others. She sniffed the air again, her suspicions being confirmed as she cautiously stepped through the door. The interior had been more or less cleaned out with only rust and mould adorning the walls. Ahead of her was the dim glow of a single candle burning, silhouetting a torn and damage leather armchair and its occupant.  
  
"Eric?"  
  
The room shuddered as the metal of the ship groaned as if threatening to descend into the murky depths with all its prisoners. Ororo stepped forward, silently approaching the chair, as she began to here the sound of distant mutterings coming from the chair's occupant. She crouched at the side and glanced at the man sat quietly in the chair. His face was thick with grime as his dull eyes gazed out ahead of him. His silver-white hair hung messily around his face and his once distinguished jaw line was now framed by a thick matting of facial hair. His lips moved as a hoarse whisper of words came out of his mouth and he did not even react when Ororo took his hand in hers.  
  
"...such potential - my daughter; powerful - so so strong...like her father; much like her father - me - her father...such potential..."  
  
Ororo stared into his vacant eyes, trying to break his catatonic trance but his gaze was fixed, so instead she followed it to the bunk that was in front of him and she gasped in astonishment. Neatly tucked away in damp, moulding sheets lay an unmistakable body. Despite the years of decay, the flowing locks tinged with fading green, struck a chord of sorrow in her heart.  
  
Lorna Dane. Once the X-Man known as Polaris. The two had once been dearly close sharing a bond of friendship that traversed the existence of their earthly souls. They had been sorceresses both and though they had come to blows on several occasions they had always harboured an eternal link. Ororo had not been present at the time of Lorna's demise but she had felt her light go out - a light that had shone bright and true in her role as Keeper of the Light. As Ororo turned back to the seemingly frail man sitting in eternal vigil over his long dead daughter, she shed a tear.  
  
"Magnus!"  
  
There was a distant glimmer of recognition in the man's eyes as Ororo felt a tangible ripple of energy emanate from him, causing the walls to buckle slightly and the whole structure to groan threateningly. Ororo glanced around the room in angst, searching her mind for what she could do to obtain her objective. Moving herself to block Magnus' view of his daughter she stares intently into his eyes.  
  
"Listen to me. The world needs you. It's time for you to venture out again!"  
  
The room shook violently, as the pressure on the portholes cracked the murky glass. Ororo grabbed Magnus by the shoulders and shook him; his head lolling from side to side, but continuously staring numbly into space.  
  
"Don't fail us! Don't fail Lorna!"  
  
A flicker of expression disturbed the stillness of his face as a dim crackle of energy illuminated his eyes. Ororo gritted her teeth as she forced herself to continue.  
  
"Yes. That's right - you failed her! She died because of you - because you couldn't protect her! Your precious daughter who YOU let die!"  
  
Tears filled Ororo's eyes as she screamed the words at this shell of a once powerful man. Her words seemed to breath life into his motionless limbs as his fists slowly clenched; his knuckles turning white. The air began thick with ionized energy as the candlestick beside him shot through the air, magnetically pinned against the wall. His eyes glowed with raw energy as a low sound built up at the back of his throat before he let out a defiant cry, wave after wave of energy rippling off him forcing Ororo back against the wall as he rose out of his chair.  
  
As his cry died out the room shuddered a final time before the once notorious Master of Magnetism slumped to his knees and the glow of energy returned to the room to its gloom. Ororo nervously stepped forward, dropping to one knee resting her hand on his arm as he slowly turned to look at her, his eyes filled with life but ultimately grief.  
  
"Welcome back." she whispered, squeezing his arm  
  
"I-how? I mean..."  
  
"Don't think too much, Magnus."  
  
Magnus struggled to find his voice. "How did you find me?"  
  
"People talk. Especially vampires with no choice."  
  
Ororo smiled weakly as Magnus' eyes darkened at the mention of vampires. She lowered her eyes in apology but found Magnus gently lifting her chin to look at her.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
Stepping out together, Magnus was astonished to see a mix of strange and familiar faces in Rayne, Kat and Dracula. They spent a few moments familiarising themselves with each other before setting down the foundations of their plan. Dracula told them about the main court where the mysterious Lord of the Vampires was housed. No one knew who this menace was but Dracula informed them of the threats and possibilities of a direct assault on the small island nation proclaimed as the vampire capital.  
  
Kat was unsure about the action and still doubted their small force would even get beyond the gates to the castle. Ororo consoled her sad that so many of their strong-willed allies had fallen years earlier but hoping that they would be with them in spirit. Rayne seemed the only level headed one as she questioned the exact nature of the plan.  
  
"So we get in. Then what? We can't kill all the vampires - we're only five against the world!"  
  
Ororo's face darkened as she turned away from the others. When next she spoke her voice was hushed, as if her words weren't so much for others to hear but more her thoughts being voiced.  
  
"I know what I have to do."  
  
To Be Continued... 


	9. Chapter 9

Night had fallen, forcing the resistance underground into the sewers. With the vampires stirring and reclaiming the world for themselves from their only true enemy - the sun - the dank murkiness of the unused sewer systems was as safe a place as any to traverse the distance they needed. Silence had fallen over the five beings, each lost deep in contemplation and re-evaluating their position in life. Ororo lead the way, her thoughts her own, as the others followed single-file behind her; the only sounds, their feet sloshing through the inches of putrid sludge that made the sewer floor treacherous.  
  
Occasionally they would come across a body or two. Surviving humans who had not been rescued by the resistance had fled into the sewers only to be hunted down by vampire packs or forced to die out in the filth-ridden gloom. The air was heavy with a year old sense of dread and it only aided in filling Ororo's mind with further depressing thoughts.  
  
Coming to a fork, Ororo paused as she considered which path to take. Suddenly a clattering sound came from the left tunnel which caused her concern.  
  
"A rat?" offered Kat.  
  
"Sounds like an awfully large rat." said Magnus.  
  
Ororo waved for them to be quiet as she listened intently. Her sharp ears pierced the silence filtering through the distant echoes of the surface and the constant dripping of water. Something about that sound had opened up an age old memory...it wasn't so much the clatter, but more so the fact she thought she heard a voice. It was impossible of course - she knew it - but the voice had raised her hopes as she strained her ears to their maximum and peered through the thick darkness.  
  
It was then that she called out.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
Her action confused the others as her voice rippled through the stillness carrying through the tunnels like a disembodied spirit. As she followed the trail of her own voice she strained to hear beyond it, hoping for something more to strengthen the reasoning behind her curious and strange actions. And then it hit her.  
  
It was a smell that was unmistakable. Like damp dog. It was some distance ahead but it evoked a memory - a fond memory.  
  
...It had been a warm, summer afternoon and everyone had been relaxing by the pool on the grounds of the Xavier Institute. As X-Men the act of relaxing was something which they did not get much time to practice but when the chance presented itself it was welcomed. Ororo had been relaxing in the shade watching the younger team members diving in and out of the pool as the others sunbathed or talked quietly. Then the French doors had opened to reveal the blue-furred form of Henry "Hank" McCoy, dressed in black swimming shorts with a snorkel on and an inflatable rubber ring around his waist with a bizarre animal head sticking up to his left. Smiles and laughter washed across those gathered as he charged toward the pool edge and launched himself through the air, cannonballing into the water - dousing all poolside occupants. The action had been taken with fun and as Hank pulled himself from the pool the summer sun quickly began to dry his fur...  
  
Ororo remembered the smell of his damp fur, warming in the sun. This smell was much like it but older, danker and richer. Without a second thought, she tore off up the tunnel leaving her companions puzzled as Kat charged forward after her; the others close behind.  
  
Pressing on, she followed her nose and her heart as her mind raced ahead of her. Though she was running in pitch darkness, she never once faltered or stumbled as her keen vampiric eyes pierced the gloom like headlights. The sound of Kat's voice calling after her went unnoticed as Ororo turned a corner into a large chamber. There she stopped at the site of a huge hulking figure, perched upon an overturned banner with its back to her. As she came to a halt, the bodies of Kat and the others charged up behind her, skidding in the grime and knocking them all to the ground.  
  
The huge figure glanced round sharply as it emitted a huge roar that shook the chamber as it flipped through the air and landed with a heavy thud before the heaped mass of limbs. It prowled toward them on all fours as Ororo sat up coming face to face with monstrous creature that sniffed at her as she remained stock still. The creature sniffed her hair and face before it grunted in surprise and reared back slightly.  
  
"O-Ororo?" the sound of its voice was low and harsh. Far more a growl than speech.  
  
Kat sat up in confusion and retrieved her flare from under her butt, holding it aloft to illuminate the creatures face. He shied away from the harsh light but the mere glimpse was all it took to catch the breath in her lungs.  
  
"Hank?!" She lowered the flare, diverting its light away from his eyes.  
  
Ororo stood up and walked over to him, touching his face and running her fingers through his thick, grey matted fur. She looked into his small eyes which flickered in the dark. Then she embraced him, holding him close and tight.  
  
"We thought you were dead!"  
  
Kat dragged herself up and ran to join the embrace her happiness overwhelming. "What happened to you?"  
  
The man once known as Henry McCoy - the Beast - shrugged off their affection and lumbered away. "I was a coward."  
  
Ororo went to follow him but he extended his long arm and halted her with a display of his huge, clawed fingers.  
  
"Don't. I don't need your pity!"  
  
His words were filled with hurt as he hid himself away from the prying eyes of his old friends. Ororo remained where she was but pleaded with him.  
  
"It wasn't your fault! You couldn't save her anymore than we could. Hank, please. Won't you talk to us? We've found you - can't you understa-"  
  
"No! No one can understand!"  
  
Kat exchanged a troubled glance with Ororo before stepping forward, defying Hank's distance.  
  
"Look at me Hank," she said firmly. "Turn and face me."  
  
Hank's hulking shoulders slumped as he turned around slowly. Through the half-light of her discarded flare she looked into the face of her old friend. He had changed a lot since his days as the lovable blue-furred X-Man. His body mass had doubled and beneath the thick mats of his shaggy grey fur she could still see the definition of his massive muscles. His face was almost dwarfed by a huge mane of long hair and his face had become more feral, with his upper and lower canines peering out beneath his lips. But none of that mattered as she stared into his eyes. Slowly she moved forward until she framed his face in her hands and kissed him on the forehead. The act alone melted his stern heart as his arms gently wrapped around her and held her close.  
  
"Welcome back." Kat whispered into his fur.  
  
Hank smiled and opened his arms, offering a hand to Ororo who took it and squeezed it gently before he led the way into a secondary chamber. The others followed close behind, stepping into what was a crude living quarters, scattered with the tinkerings of Hank's inquisitive mind.  
  
An hour later, after introductions and serious discussion, a sixth member of the resistance had been recruited as they sat around a barrel fire eating rat. Dracula and Ororo ate theirs fresh, Rayne rare and the rest medium rare.  
  
"Hardly the Ritz," said Hank. "But if you don't think about it, it could be a hamburger from Harry's Hideaway."  
  
Kat laughed at the cutting whit that she had missed so in recent years; feeling days of tension ebbing away. Ororo sat quietly watching the gathering as Rayne decided to familiarise herself with things a little more.  
  
"So you guys were all part of a team?"  
  
"Yes," said Hank solemnly. "The X-Men."  
  
"And you say that you helped protect humanity even when most of them would see you dead? Sheesh; let the bastards save themselves. I would have."  
  
Magnus shook his head with a wry smile. "And to think, I was their greatest foe."  
  
"You have a high opinion of yourself," said Kat exchanging a quick glance with Hank.  
  
"Feel the tension in the room guys." commented Rayne.  
  
Everyone feel silent momentarily before they shared an unspoken joke and laughed quietly amongst themselves.  
  
"So what is your plan?" enquired Hank.  
  
"We fight and we die." offered Dracula plainly.  
  
"So the future's not rosy?" enquired Magnus with an arched eyebrow toward Dracula.  
  
Kat swallowed the last of her meal. "Basically we storm the vampire capital. Dracula knows where it is; once we're in we head for the top dog. Ororo thinks with him gone, Dracula should be able to seize control as the Lord of the Vampires again and bring about a new order."  
  
Hank cautiously glanced across at Dracula. "How do we know he can be trusted?"  
  
"We don't," admitted Kat. "But if you know a better way, we'd like to hear it."  
  
Ororo watched silently as she witnessed old rivalries dissolving and new friendships being forged. But at the back of her mind she couldn't escape the fact that the world shouldn't have been this way...humanity should have still existed as the dominating species on the planet - hating and fearing that which it didn't understand - with people like the X-Men always present to save them. If only she hadn't made the mistakes she had - if only there was a way to put things right.  
  
But she was forgetting herself. She was going to put things right. The Age of the Undead was over. In twenty-four hours not a single vampire would be left in the world...not one.  
  
To Be Continued... 


	10. Chapter 10

At dawn, the resistance made its way from the sewer tunnels back to the surface. There was still a distance to cover, with Dracula led the way with Ororo, who seemed distant to them all. Though Ororo had blanketed the area in thick storm clouds to protect Dracula from the sun, Hank had tied a strip of cloth around his eyes, shielding his eyes from the harsh light of day after years of life in darkness. Though Kat helped him find his way, his other senses more than made up for his lack of sight.  
  
The once famous Ellis Island had now become the pinnacle of vampire culture where a vast palace had been erected to house the vampire demi-god and his "royal" bloodline. Dracula had already warned of the vast elite guard stationed on the island but Ororo had been expecting no less; the state's villainous population had notoriously been turned and in the final days of humanities struggle it had been these super-powered vampire soldiers who had tipped the scales against Earth's mightiest heroes.  
  
As they walked the deserted streets, Rayne moved over toward Kat and smiled slightly in greeting.  
  
"If this plan is a success, what are we gonna do about our other big problem?"  
  
"Other big problem?" pressed Kat, confused.  
  
"The nuclear strike."  
  
Kat lowered her head, the colour draining from her face. "I dunno. We've severed our links from the core of the resistance. Even if we do succeed, the strike will still go ahead."  
  
"Sounds like a crock of shit to me!" admitted Rayne.  
  
Hank coughed to interrupt as he reached under one of his shoulders where a mass of fur sat. He withdrew his hand and presented a device, dwarfed in his huge palm.  
  
"Perhaps this will aid you. If you can locate the frequency of the resistance you should be able to relay a short message."  
  
Kat's eyes lightened as she took the transmitter from Hank, reaching up to kiss his cheek. "Henry McCoy you are a star!"  
  
At the front of the group, Magnus approached Ororo with concern for his old friend. He touched her arm softly as she turned to look at him. Smiling weakly she could not hide the weariness in her eyes.  
  
"You're starting to show your age." he said softly.  
  
Ororo faced forward. "I've...got a lot on my mind."  
  
Magnus nodded and slowed his pace allowing Ororo and Dracula to move on ahead. Dracula turned to look at his creation, sensing the disturbance in her dark soul. His dark eyes searched her face as she vacantly marched on before he moved beside   
  
her to speak with her.  
  
"I know you are keeping secrets from them." he said, his voice firm.  
  
Ororo glanced over at him with an expression of unhappiness. "I have no choice."  
  
"But why do you keep your secrets from me?"  
  
"They are my secrets to keep."  
  
She motioned to move away but found Dracula holding onto her; not violently, but tenderly.  
  
"Do what you need to, but know that I - we - are all here for you."  
  
Dracula then released her and moved clear away. His words had caught her off guard; years of torture at the hands of Mary Kelly had certainly opened his mind and as a result he was truly remorseful for the actions of his kind. If only he knew the truth, she thought to herself. Would he be so tender and warm toward her then? As the emotion in her thoughts betrayed her, a soft rain began to fall from the clouds over head. It was a cold and callous rain, its icy needles stinging her eyes as though torturing her for her sins.  
  
She stopped dead and glanced up at the sky, cursing her existence and praying for release into the arms of her Bright Lady. Magnus came to her side then and took her hand in his. She turned her attention to him to find his face full of concern for her.  
  
"You helped me, Ororo. I am here for you."  
  
The day passed slowly, with very little to pass the time. They reached the edges of Manhattan, a city that had been ravaged by fire to a large degree and lay in charred ruins; some fires still smouldering amidst he ruins. Few bodies scattered the streets; most humans this close to the vampire capital having been turned and added to the ranks or captured for the blood banks.  
  
Ororo cast her mind back to a time when she had been assigned to infiltrate the Chicago Blood Banks. It was a monstrous sight. Human men and women forced to breed merely for the production of children who would be sold into slavery in the royal courts. If humans were infertile or too old to reproduce then they were merely shipped out into the streets as easy prey for the hordes of vampires swarming the city streets.  
  
She had met a little girl in the Banks; fourteen years old and already suitable for bearing children - awaiting fertility trails - in the eyes of the vampires. She had watched over that little girl, who was so innocent that she couldn't quite comprehend the nature of how her world had been turned upside down. Despite her best efforts, she had been unable to save the little girl once she had left and some weeks later she returned to Chicago only to stumble across a pile of bodies left over from a mass feeding frenzy in which she found her pale little body, covered in puncture wounds.   
  
That morning she hunted down the pack that were responsible and burnt them to cinders. That was why they had to pay - that and so much more.  
  
Looking out across Manhattan Bay, Ororo let a chill wind caress her face as the others positioned themselves either side of her. Ahead of them lay the eerily quiet Ellis Island and beyond, the spectre of Liberty Island; defaced and disgraced by the vampire menace.  
  
The sun had dropped behind the burnt out buildings of Manhattan, casting long shadows across the world as Ororo turned back to her comrades in preparation for the coming battle.  
  
"This is it," her tone was grim. "From here on out, we're on borrowed time. If we are to fall this day then let us go down fighting!"  
  
"Damn £@(!ing right!" cheered Rayne, checking her wrist blades.  
  
With the diminishing light Hank removed the cloth shielding his eyes as he cracked his knuckles. Kat nodded solemnly and checked her remaining stock of shurikens and tested the acid-edge of her tanto blades. Magnus and Dracula both stood confident as Ororo's ears suddenly pricked up. Her signal to the others came too late as several vampires leapt from the concealment of the dusk shadows, seizing hold of each one of her companions in quick movements leaving her standing defensively, fearing to act for the safety of her friends.  
  
And then her blood ran cold as a sinisterly familiar scent came to her. Staring out at the shadows, a looming figure marched out with all the egotistical confidence he had when he was human. As the fading light of the dusk glimpsed across his face,   
  
Victor Creed grinned from ear to ear as a low predatory growl rumbled at the back of his throat. Ororo felt physically sick, the age-old deed of her rape at his hands still raw to her - her mind still finding it incalculable that a man could do that whilst still, technically, human.  
  
"Hey there Stormy," he said with an evil glint in his eye, flicking his tongue back and forth over his monstrous canine teeth. "Long time no see."  
  
Kat spat at Creed with fury raging within her as a vampire secured an adamantium collar around her neck. Creed waltzed over to her and stroked her cheek, raking a claw down her skin.  
  
"You'll get yers, Kitty-Kat. But don't go thinking about phasing none; that adamantium collar will make you feel mighty sick and while you're spinning I'll gut ya just so and eat yer entrails as yer friends watch!"  
  
"You bastard Creed!" Ororo growled.  
  
He turned back to her and stalked over, towering over her as he pushed himself into her, sniffing her hair. She forced herself to remain still as Dracula struggled against the two vampires that clasped his wrists. Creed positioned himself behind her and ran his hand up her inner thigh as he licked the side of her face.  
  
"Face it girly, you've missed the taste of ol' daddy Creed!"  
  
Just then, both Ororo and Creed caught another familiar scent; one that filled them with mixed feelings. For Creed they were feelings of hatred, revulsion and revenge whereas for Ororo the feeling evoked by the familiar scent - apart from outright   
  
surprise - were salvation, relief and gratitude.  
  
It was then that the first vamp fell - a sudden swift movement caught it through the neck as it fell to the ground; it's head rolling off as it burst into a cloud of ash. With Magnus free he energised his fists and targeted a magnetic pulse at the vampire restraining Kat. The vampire hovered into the air as Magnus' eyes flared and the iron in its blood began the burn and stretch. The creature bellowed in agony as with a roar of anger Magnus pulled apart his hands, magnetically tearing the vampire asunder.  
  
The rebellion was soon joined by the others as BloodRayne high-kicked the vampire behind her, cracking his nose. Hank grabbed both his burly restrainers, one in each hand and slammed them together, crushing their skulls and flinging their limp bodies into the water. Dracula transformed into a huge man-wolf and tore the throats out of the remaining vampires as Ororo leapt over Creed's head, kicking back into his face before landing amidst her friends and standing off against him. But creed's attention was on other things as he sniffed the air.  
  
"Come on out, runt," he spoke to no one in particular and yet he knew exactly who he was speaking to. "I know yer here!"  
  
As Creed turned around a small, stout figure rose to meet him and as he looked down he met a pair of familiar eyes as feral as his own.  
  
"Y'know yer freakin' trouble Creed?" Logan drew in close. "I never could kill ya."  
  
SNIKT!  
  
"Until now."  
  
Creed's eyes widen in awe as he feverishly glances down at the adamantium claws puncturing his heart. Normally he'd survive and as a vampire he should have no problem what so ever but as he looks back up at Logan, his skin begins to blacken and his eyes fade as flecks of burning ash trail from his mouth.  
  
"Son of a bit-!"  
  
Logan drew his claws back swiftly, the motion causing Creed's body to implode in on itself with glowing embers and ash trailing skyward. As the flaming cinders settled, Logan stepped forward toward the others who stood in astonishment at the apparition before them. Kat rushes forward in surprise as Ororo's face flood with joy.  
  
"Logan! You're alive!" Kat rushes forward and hugs him.  
  
"Yeh, kid. I'm alive."  
  
Ororo stepped forward, kicking through the pile of ash that was once Victor Creed. "How did you-?"  
  
"Kill 'im? Simple." Wolverine brandished his claws. "Had 'em rebonded with silver."  
  
Logan gave a satisfied smile as Ororo patted him heartily on the back. He glanced around at the others with a look of surprise in his eye.  
  
"Hank? You ol' dog!"  
  
"Good to see you too, old friend."  
  
Logan's eyes shifted to view both Dracula and Magnus but he knew that even the oldest of vendettas between them had long since dissolved in light of the present situation. Turning to Rayne he looked her up and down and nodded in a approval before turning back to Ororo.  
  
"Not a bad mix, darlin'. Ya gotta plan to go with the people?"  
  
Ororo nodded and took time to fill her old friend in on everything that had transpired in the last few days. He listened intently, analysing the structure of the plan in his own way, looking for errors and ways it could be improved and where he could, he offered his experience.  
  
"All we've got to worry about now is the nukes." piped up Rayne.  
  
Logan looked at Kat. "Nukes?"  
  
"Yeh," she pulled out the transmitter. "Hank gave me this but I've not been able to raise the resistance leaders."  
  
Logan whistled sharply as several figures emerged from the shadows. They all wore black body suits and advanced military equipment and were armed with stakes, knives, swords and machine guns. They formed a semi-circle around Logan and the others and he smiled confidently at the evident surprise.  
  
"Meet SHIELD's finest."  
  
Kat turned to him. "SHIELD?!"  
  
"Yep, I've been working with them for years now. I'm still the best at what I do, which still isn't very nice - but it's mighty satisfying. We've been tracking you for the last day or so after we lost contact with a mole we had in your base. When we found the place torched we knew something big was up."  
  
"So what now?" asked Ororo.  
  
"I radio in and get the big kahuna to put a hold on that strike while we go and kick some vampire ass!"  
  
Everyone nodded in satisfaction as Rayne stepped over, looking down on Logan with a glint of lust in her eye.  
  
"Now you sound like my kinda guy, little man!"  
  
"Easy darlin'," Logan took out a half-smoked cigar. "If we get outta this alive, I'll show you just how 'little' I am."  
  
Rayne bent over and stroked his cheek. "Is that a promise?"  
  
Half an hour later, everyone was set to go. The SHIELD agents handed out some weapons to Kat as Magnus warped the adamantium collar around her neck, allowing her to phase freely once more. Ororo stood watching them all as they prepared for what may be their last hours alive. Kat, Rayne, Dracula, Hank, Magnus, Logan and herself...the irony wasn't lost on her. They were the penultimate "Magnificent Seven".  
  
Swathed in a bubble of magnetic energy, they crossed over to Ellis Island ready to stare death in the face. Curiously enough - though not entirely expected - not a soul was present in the vast, torch lit courtyard as they touched down. There was an   
  
stillness to the air that sent shivers down even Logan's hardened spine as Rayne, Dracula, Logan and Ororo were on full alert - each and everyone of their senses working over time. But it was all in vain as a huge portcullis to the north drew up as   
  
dozens of vampires teemed out to stand sentry at the gate. Yet only a single one advanced toward them; slowly and confidently as he made himself known - his black leather trench coat flapping in the wind. He was instantly recognisable. Strangely enough one of the few heroes turned merely for the advantage of his mutant power. The fact that he was a one man army.  
  
"Jamie?" Kat was astonished. "Jamie Madrox!?"  
  
"The one and only!" he laughed at his own comment as a second Jamie stepped out from him. "Better make that the one and two only."  
  
But in an instant his features changed as his face turned feral and in the blink of an eye he made dozens of copies of himself all slavering and growling as their eyes shone like burning coals and their teeth glinted in the silver glow of the waxing moon overhead.  
  
"Now would be a good time to think of a strategy!" growled Rayne as she readied to fight.  
  
"Allow me." said Magnus with a level tone.  
  
As the first wave of Madrox duplicates lunged to attack, Magnus rose high above them producing a magnetic pulse which seized all the duplicates in its snare as his bodied convulsed with pure raw energy. The vampiric Madrox's roared in fury and   
  
growing pain as they feel their limbs pulling against themselves and their blood surging through their veins at an erratic rate as the iron is super-heated with magnetic energy. The others watch in amazement as Magnus pulls the duplicates around   
  
the central figure of the original Madrox. Slowly but surely a perfect sphere is created of seething limbs and agonising cries as Magnus continues to pump his energy into it. Skin, bone and blood merge on a molecular level as magnetic energy surges and swirls until finally Magnus launches the Madrox sphere skyward until it vanishes into darkness.  
  
The exertion too much, Magnus flutters from the air where Ororo steadies him. The sound of solitary applause is heard then as all eyes turn to the parting wave of vampires as a solitary figure draped in a lush cloak steps out into the night. None but   
  
Ororo and Dracula knew his true identity as he revealed himself but no one spoke as they drew tightly together, ready for anything.  
  
"Welcome," came his thick, accented voice. "To your final resting place!"  
  
"Hold your tongue, Gorran!" snarled Dracula in defiance.  
  
"Ah yes, our little lord. I hope you'll forgive me if I do not make your death quick?"  
  
Ororo felt her anger rising as her muscles pumped with adrenaline. Her eyes gazed across all the vampires before her. Some where just faces, but most she knew and recognised. They had been turned merely because their malice and intent served a   
  
greater purpose to them as vampires. Kingpin, Avalanche, Pyro, Mr Sinister, Lex Luthor, Poison Ivy, Arcade, Emma Frost and Victor von Doom - among many others - all teased their fangs with their tongues as unblinking eyes bore down on her.  
  
None of them mattered as her eyes fell back to Gorran, the man - if that's what you could call him - who needed to die. But her strategy was shot to pieces as Dracula launched through air, seizing Gorran by the throat and lifting him clean off the   
  
ground. His eyes blazed with rage as he threw Gorran through the air where he landed in a heap at the bottom of the palace steps. Dracula leapt down, slamming his foot into Gorran's chest as Ororo's body suddenly tensed with unease.  
  
"Dracula, no!"  
  
Lying on the floor, Gorran began laughing which enraged Dracula. However in a split instant, the nature of his laugh changed until it was not his laughter at all. Suddenly before their eyes the form of Gorran morphed revealing the vampiric form of Mystique squirming under Dracula's foot. Before another action could be taken, Dracula gripped his chest in agony as his veins boiled to the surface, cracking his skin as his blood ignited. Ororo tried to rush forward but Logan held her firmly back as Dracula was engulfed in a ball of flame and his cinder-like remains floated off on the breeze.  
  
As Mystique got to her feet as took her place amongst her brethren the real Gorran descended upon them a large, leather-bound tome hanging from his waist. None but Ororo knew what it truly was...none but she knew what it truly meant...none but she   
  
could do what needed to be done. Gorran's eyes fell instantly on her as he strode confidently toward her.  
  
"Ah Ororo - my reason for living!"  
  
She gritted her teeth. "Don't."  
  
"I see," Gorran glanced at her companions with a cunning smile. "They don't know, do they?"  
  
Silence washed over Ororo.  
  
"Can it suckhead!" growled Logan.  
  
"Ororo?" Kat's voice was pleading.  
  
Gorran leant toward Ororo. "Will you tell them, or shall I?"  
  
Bowing her head, Ororo closed her head. Kat moved forward and placed a hand on her shoulder but found her action shrugged off as Ororo whispered.  
  
"It's all my fault."  
  
To Be Continued... 


	11. Chapter 11

No one understood the severity and sincere nature of her words as Gorran stood gloating over them all. Ororo's eyes stung with tears as Kat tried to figure out exactly what was going on. She pressed her friend to explain but received no enlightenment, provoking Gorran to take centre stage.  
  
"Allow me," he said with an air of pleasure. "Ororo here was the key fundamental in the downfall of your putrid civilisation. She was the key to my resurrection."  
  
"You're lying!" Kat's voice trembled.  
  
"Ask her," he prompted. "Ask her to tell you the truth."  
  
Kat lunged forward to launch an assault but Ororo stepped out in front of her, brining her sad eyes to look at her.  
  
"It is true..."  
  
Shock washed over the entire group as the simple statement turned their world on its head. Kat's resolve faltered as her mind boiled with grief and anger as she lowered her raised arm clutching a stake and let it slip from her fingers.  
  
"If you think back over twenty years, I went on a mission with Tessa and Lorna. We encountered and fought Gorran, successfully destroying his vampire army and banishing him to a Netherrealm before he could rise up against the world. Some years later I detect a magickal surge spreading through the mystic planes which I located to a concentrated point of energy; a tear in the fabric of time and space from which unimaginable magickal energy was flowing. I left immediately to investigate finding myself standing face to face with a slowly expanding portal to the nexus of Netherrealms. Before I had time to act, I was attacked by numerous cloaked figures...the Darkholder Cult. They had laid a trap that I walked blindly into. Pinning me down, they used my magickal essence as an anchor to this world as they spilled my blood in offering to the Netherrealm spirits. That act, paired with the Darkholder's magicks, tore the rift wide open allowing Gorran to rise up from his mystical prison. Unfortunately he was not as he should have been. Years in the Netherrealm should have broken his resolve, but-"  
  
"But," continued Gorran, his voice thick with vengeance. "My desire for revenge kept me sane as I bent the nature of my prison to my will; harnessing the malignant energies within allowing me to rise with the power to pull a million damned souls through the rift with me; casting them to the world, instantly creating my vast vampire army."  
  
Logan was the only one not dumbfounded enough not to act. "Yer a freakin' asshole Gorran!"  
  
"Temper, temper my little friend," he warned with burning eyes. "I have not finished."  
  
Gorran continued to tell his tale. Of how he drained Ororo to the brink of death, taking her strength into himself and leaving her immobile to act as the first waves of humanity fell beneath his Dark Kiss. How he slaughtered all but the most loyal of Darkholders, taking the powerful magicks of the Darkhold for himself allowing him to blanket America in a three day eclipse. His assault was brutal and swift but humanity fell easily before the unseen power of the undead.  
  
"And now," Gorran flicked his cloak over his shoulder. "You will all die!"  
  
"NO!" Thunder split the sky as a bolt of lightning struck the ground between Gorran and Ororo. "I will stop you!"  
  
"And you're not alone 'Ro." Logan offered, unsheathing his claws.  
  
"You've got that right!" confirmed Kat taking up a fighting stance.  
  
Rayne, Magnus and Hank also readied themselves for battle. Gorran's eyes flared in fury as he called out to his vampire soldiers with a monstrous roar, throwing the courtyard of his palace into a frenzy as vampires streamed through the air toward the remaining heroes. In that moment their minds cleared of doubt, fear and thought as they automatically engaged in battle like the honed warriors that they were. Instantly, Ororo charged forward, slamming her fist into Gorran's stomach and sending him flying through the air where he crashed into a wall as she leapt after him, clearing them both from the midst of the fray.  
  
Meanwhile, the world's most notorious vampirised villains snarl and snap their jaws as they try to tear into the remaining heroes. Hank vaults through the air, gutting vampires left and right as they pile onto his huge form trying to bite through his shaggy fur. He swats the vampirised Emma Frost into a flaming torch, igniting her hair as she screams in agony. Arcade leaps at him snarling as Hank snatches him out of the air by his head and crushes his skull in his monstrous palm.  
  
Logan slices his silver-bonded claws through flesh and bone sending limbs flying as he tears through hordes of vampires; decapitating many in imploding clouds of dust. Magnus, weakened from his earlier dispatching of Jamie Madrox, still manages to super-heat the iron in vampires blood as well as reroute the flow to disorientate them before sending the wrought-iron torches flying through the air, impaling vampires on a fiery stake as he watches them burn and writhe.  
  
"Hey Hank," Logan calls out. "Mix me up a fast-ball special!"  
  
"Just like old times!" chimed Hank.  
  
Logan charges toward the hulking mass of fur who braces himself and extends his palms. Stepping up onto his hands, Logan is hurled through the air by Hank's beastly strength. He twists and turns through the air bringing his claws down through the vampire forms of Mr Sinister and Avalanche; slicing off limbs and dropping them to the ground for him to finish off.   
  
Across from the carnage, Rayne goes toe-to-toe with Bullseye - deadly as a human; deadlier as a vampire. She ducks a roundhouse kick and slices through his calf-muscle with her wrist blade. Spinning she tries to sweep his legs but Bullseye vaults clear and throws a handful of knives at her, tearing into her left shoulder and arm. Rayne swears loudly as she spins letting flying with her grappling line which punctures Bullseye through the shoulder; with a hefty tug, she drags the marksman toward her and palm thrusts him back before flipping through the air and cracking her boots off his skull. He staggered round dazed as blood spilled down his face. Bullseye growled loudly and charged forward but Rayne leapt over his head, sticking one of her blades into the back of his neck and swiping his head clean off his shoulders with the other. Bullseye wasn't even dust before Rayne had engaged a new enemy.  
  
Close by, the hulking form of the Kingpin cornered Kat as she steadily backed herself up. His massive body was littered with silver shurikens but his feral eyes fixed on Kat as he extended a clawed hand to grab her. Kat kicked back off the wall and launched forward, phasing through Kingpin's chest before rolling to her feet behind him. They both turned to face each other as Kat brandished Kingpin's black heart in her hand. Kingpin glanced down at his chest and then back at Kat, grinning with contempt.  
  
"That won't kill me!"  
  
Kat smiled confidently as she pulled out a silver dagger and plunged it into his still-beating heart. Instantly Kingpin clutched his chest and convulsed as he fell to the ground and erupted in a cloud of ash and bone as Kat leapt back into the fray with satisfaction.  
  
A swath of flame bursts across Hank's back courtesy of Pyro as the gargantuan fist of the Blob hammers into him. Hank rolls and puts out the flames before flipping to his feet and staring wildly at his new opponents who stalk toward him with their fangs glinting.  
  
"It appears, Mr Allerdyce," he says as he leaps over him, slashing into the fuel tank of his costume. "That you are a liability unto yourself!"  
  
Reaching round to grab a flaming torch from the courtyard, he rams it into the spilled fuel sending Pyro up in flames. With a satisfied grin, Hank drop-kicks the vampire backwards into the bulbous form of the Blob as both of them go up in a cloud of cinders before leaping through the air to tackle yet another enemy.  
  
At the top of the steps to the palace, Gorran and Ororo face-off for the ultimate conflict. Gorran backhands Ororo hard across the face, spinning her through the air but she lands back on her feet and rams her boot into Gorran's chest, cracking his ribs as she sends him back against a wall. With a snarl, Gorran using a magickal force blast to send Ororo away as he lunges forward, raking his claws across her abdomen and upper cutting her in the jaw; slamming her head back against the entrance to the palace.  
  
Cartwheeling across the floor, Ororo kicks Gorran in the face, punches him and then kicks him again. She spins around to punch but Gorran blocks. Ororo flips, kicking Gorran backwards; comes back upright and throws another couple of punches which Gorran evades. Gorran pins Ororo's arm behind her back and throws her hard into the wall.   
  
Ororo slid to the ground, dazed, but as Gorran advanced she stood on one hand and flicked her legs over her head and booted Gorran in the face before flipping back to her feet. Flying through the air, Ororo slashes Gorran in the face with her claws and tackles him to the ground, banging his head off the floor as he punches her in the chest, sending her soaring into the ceiling and crashing back to the floor as cracked plaster and marble crumble down on her head.  
  
Gorran rises to his feet and kicks Ororo in the ribs, skidding her across the ground where her spine slams into a column. Her head slumps to the floor as blood trickles from her nose and mouth. Gorran stalks over and drags Ororo up be her hair, staring into her half-focused eyes.  
  
"No, don't die on me yet sweet one. I want you to witness as I lay waste to all you hold dear!"  
  
Ororo's eyes fluttered to gaze across at her allies who fought with all their strength to bring an end to an age of carnage and death. Watching her friends cutting a swathe through a horde of undead warriors, they're resolve unfaltering as they risked their lives to aid in the mission they had not been fully briefed on. Ororo had lied to them all for a second time but what she needed to do could be done by no other. Mustering her faltering strength, she grabbed Gorran by his fingers and snapped them back sharply, before palm thrusting him in the throat and hovering over him; lightning crackling from her body.  
  
"Kali, Hera, Kronos, Tonic,  
  
Air like nectar, thick as onyx.  
  
Cassiel by your second star,  
  
Hold mine victim as in tar!"  
  
The air around Gorran shimmers and he suddenly finds he cannot move. He bellows with rage as she stoops over him and snatches up the leather bound tome at his waist; instantly feeling the dark power of the ancient Darkhold flooding into her body as she fights against its malicious and indomitable will. Turning away from Gorran, Ororo kneels to face the vicious battle still raging in the courtyard. With a sad glance at her friends she stares down at the Darkhold which opens of its own accord to the page in her mind. Summoning a protective tornado laced with magick to swirl around her she begins to agonising task of reciting the Montesi Formula; a spell that would rid the world of every vampire which existed.  
  
"Te implor, Doamne, nu ignora aceasta rugaminte."  
  
With only the first line spoken, the sky darkens as lightning forks the sky. Her voice is laced with power as it seems to penetrate everything in the vicinity as it reaches out across the globe.  
  
"Nici mort, nici al fiintei."  
  
Gorran's roars of fury become desperate as he calls out in a high pitch snarl which instantly caught the intention of his vampire horde as well as Kat, Logan and the others. All eyes fell on the mystically restrained Gorran and then to Ororo who knelt before them all, her elemental powers warping around her as she pressed on with the ancient rite.  
  
"Lasa orbita sa fie vasul care-i va transporta, sufletul la el."  
  
Gorran's voice rose above the winds and the incantation. "Stop her you fools! She's reciting the Formula!"  
  
The remaining vampires leapt forward in a futile attempt to stop Ororo; each one of them knowing what the Montesi Formula meant for them and their kind. However they were helplessly flung left and right as her tornado held fast like a brick wall of solid wind leaving Kat and the others to stand in numb astonishment.  
  
"Ororo - don't!" Kat's plead was laced with angst as Ororo's kind eyes stared out at her.  
  
"Ancyra icio adeo carpo carpere carpsi carptum emendabilis cultum aenus."  
  
All around them the vampires began writhing and screeching as their black souls began to scorch as their evil was erased from existence. Kat charged forward but Logan held her back firmly as she struggled against him, kicking and screaming; tears pouring down her face.  
  
"Let her do it! She has to!"  
  
"No! I won't let it happen!"  
  
Ororo fought back her emotions as she felt her own soul burning within her.  
  
"Centrum est obscurus. Tenebrae respiratis."  
  
The weaker vampires screamed out in defiant terror as their darkness was torn from them, incinerating their earthly forms as they crumpled to ashes in the courtyard; scooped up in the pull of Ororo's powerful tornado. Gorran's stronger will forced against his mystic bonds as he resisted the fiery pain emanating from the depths of his dark heart as Ororo tried to remain focused as the Montesi Formula took its hold in the world.  
  
"M-Missum tenebrae fulge-re...operire veles ab en-augustus c-con-sternatio..."  
  
As Ororo's strength drained from her, the mystic bonds and her tornado barrier weakened. Ororo's face was streaked with painful tears as Kat stood an watched, feeling a huge yet gentle hand of Hank rest on her shoulder as they all witnessed her destruction. Suddenly, with a mighty roar, Gorran - with his skin and hair scorching - leapt to his feet and lunged for Ororo. Though everyone's eyes widened in shock, Kat leapt into the air and let fly her last shuriken; striking him square in the forehead and knocking him to the ground as the incantation reached its climax.  
  
"Fi-Filia et Sineya...impr-primis profiteor...  
  
Abe caligo aspiro,  
  
Abiudico...meus n-nervus et abesse...s-saturura."  
  
Her resolve strengthened as she searched her being for the strength to end the years of suffering and death.  
  
"Asa sa fie! Asa sa fie!"  
  
A vast shockwave of light reached out from Ororo as her back arched and her head shot back in a silent scream. The shockwave streaked the globe in a matter of seconds passing through all matter harmlessly, apart from those who were undead. The energy wave hit them as they writhed in agony and obliterated their unearthly forms into clouds of swirling ash which filled the air with a supernatural "fog". Gorran screamed in fury as the shockwave forced him back against the wall. His body failed him as he tried to force himself on, his limbs flaking away and his bones shattering as the fires of the Netherrealms consumed him internally until he was no more.  
  
Winds, ash and ether swirled around Ororo as all eyes fell to her. Still kneeling, she gazed directly at her friends as a soft, peaceful smile crept to her lips.  
  
"Forgive me my friends," she whispered.  
  
The power of the spell complete, the magicks of the Darkhold envelop her as she is consumed in a fiery swath. The energy twists around her and snakes its way skyward before it disappears with a roar, taking her with it.  
  
The still night closed in around them as the final traces of the vampire nation were wiped out from the world. Eyes were heavy with emotion as Kat slumped to her knees and sobbed softly. Hank put a hand on Logan's shoulder as Magnus turned from the group to grief alone. Rayne stood stock-still gazing at the place where Ororo had knelt with saddened eyes.  
  
It was over. Humanity had won. 


	12. Epilogue

Dawn broke, casting a fresh light of renewal across the grounds of the once noble Xavier Institute, sending a warming light to the five figures that gathered on the east side of the estate. Kat stood gazing out across the numerous graves, each marked with a little memento of its occupant. A deck of cards, a bible, a ruby-quartz visor, a pair of pink sunglasses...each one told a story; each one held the spirit of the deceased. Kat knelt at the grave of her husband - adorned with a small photograph of their wedding, which had faded in the years of sunlight. She fondly stroked the soil as she held back her tears.  
  
"We did it honey," a small smile flickered on her face. "She did it."  
  
Across the lawns Hank knelt at the grave of Tessa Niles aka Sage, his head bowed in silent contemplation. Magnus stood calmly gazing down at the grave belonging to the "Father of Mutantkind", Professor Charles Xavier; he paid his respects to his oldest friend and enemy amending in his soul the sins of his past. Logan however, steeled himself from visiting her grave. The woman he had loved and the woman he could not save. Jean Grey; the Phoenix. But despite her namesake there was no resurrection and Logan cherished his memories as he gathered together a pile of rocks with purpose.  
  
Rayne watched it all from a distance; untouched by the loss of people she had never known. Her soul felt lighter after the Montesi Formula had been recited and she took this time of solace to reflect on her life and to consider what the future would hold for her now as she glanced back at Logan with a kind smile on her face.  
  
He piled the rocks together, creating a small cairn which bathed in the sun as he uncovered the samurai sword that had belonged to Ororo and placed it firmly before the monument to her sacrifice.  
  
"Rest easy darlin'." his voice was low and solemn.  
  
A warming breeze filtered through the estate, caressing his face softly as he closed his eyes; almost feeling Ororo's soft hand on his skin. He stood tall and moved over to the others who began to gather together ready for whatever lay ahead. Kat looked amidst them all and smiled.  
  
"So what now?"  
  
Logan shrugged. "It's over. SHIELD have taken the Darkhold and will be disassembling its pages and sending them to undisclosed locations across the globe. The vampires are gone. We get to rebuild our homes, our families and our dreams."  
  
Kat wrapped her arms around Logan as Magnus and Hank shook hands. Rayne walked over to them, lightly draping her arms around the shoulders of Logan and Kat as they all turned to face the front of the ruined mansion as the early morning sun rose above the tree line casting a new light across the world. A flock of birds streaked through the air as their eyes glanced skyward and they prepared themselves to the future.  
  
END 


End file.
